This is a ramshackle post about a bunch of unrelated thoughts cluttering up my mind. (along with some haphazard photos)
2012.
All over Facebook and Twitter I saw people talking about resolutions. Have you ever kept one? Me? Not so much. I did see a post, however, that talked about the true definition of resolutions. Most people set goals; loose 25 pounds, read the Bible, pay off the credit card... Goals. A resolution, this article says, are permanent changes to your life since you keep doing them every day and not just until a specific achievement is reached. I like that. I think we all should make some RESOLUTIONS this year.
Me?
I've got two. Two changes I believe we need to make, as a family, to live a more purposeful life.
First up is organization. At work I am organized, I have to be to accomplish what needs to get done in the short time I am there. At home, I fall short. I'm not talking about legos on the floor or disregarded sweatshirts on the chairs. That's just us living life and I'm not about to change that! I'm talking about the bigger things; budget, banking, taxes, groceries, cabinets, laundry. Things that take me much longer than they should because I am not organized and keep me from joining my little man in the mess of legos.
I started over break, H and I organized the basement. It was a wreck and we weren't using it because of the mess. More than half his toys are down there, so it was making me feel bad that I wouldn't let him go down and play, for fear he'd get hurt trying to navigate through my disaster.
It took a day and a half!! Seriously. Who let's their world get that messy? Apparently me. But it feels good now, to have usable space, a place for H to play, a space for everything. Organizing the basement though, left me with five bags of stuff that needed to be brought upstairs and put away. FIVE! Which, sent me into this annoying spiral of cleaning and organizing. Why? Because the things that belonged in the office had no where to be placed because behind the closed drawers and doors of the office I had...you guessed it...a mess. Then there were things for the bedroom, H's room, etc., etc., etc. You see how this progressed?
Unfortunately, the three of us played tag with an intrusive little virus all during break. First I got it just before I got off of school and passed it to H, who passed it to Joe, who passed it back to H (poor guy), who finally gave it back to me. I know, I know, you're not supposed to get the same bug more than once. Whatever. It morphed or something. All I know is H and I were both sick. Twice! Which totally slowed down my organization plans. There's a big fat check mark next to the basement and office, but the rest will have to wait for a bit. Changes over time.
And now, finally (I told you this was a brain dump!), my second resolution. This one is much more important and will take some time, but it's been weighing heavy on my mind for a while now. It started here when I came across Reece's Rainbow and continued through the holidays. I'll be the first to commend my child on being kind and thoughtful towards others. His heart is big. He nearly cried during Chipwrecked because Theodor's necklace was getting ruined and H knew he'd be upset. He's soft hearted. But still, there were moments this Christmas when gift getting got the best of him. Presents! Presents! Are there more presents?? And then two days after all those presents, he announced, "I'm bored."
So maybe I haven't been doing such a great job teaching him about appreciation. He still has his Act My Age Jar and I'm pretty good about making sure he has his own money to buy himself toys or apps on the iPAD, but still, we make a McDonald's run when he's craving nuggets, we get movies at RedBox weekly, he sees me make a run to Walmart for whatever I need/want. He wants, wants, wants.
Yesterday Joe and I were watching HGTV, an episode called Million Dollar Rooms. We were both so blown away by the way these people spent their money. Wasted really. One room had spent $250,000 on hardware. We're talking doorknobs! All I could think is, what if they only spent $200,000 on doorknobs (still completely ridiculous!) and used $50,000 to buy food for the starving children on the UNICEF commercial, vaccinations, mosquito nets. Or used that money to help a caring family save a child with Down Syndrome from a neglectful orphanage or from going into a mental institution.
I said to Joe, "Promise me that if we ever find ourselves in a place where money is disposable, we don't lose sight of what is important." To which H says, "Maybe if we get a lot of money we can build a nice house first." "We have a nice house," I replied, "Wouldn't it be better to help these kids who don't have a home, that don't even have enough food to eat?" "Yes, but maybe we can build a house like that, to make ours even nicer, and then when we get more money, help the kids."
OUCH! He has no concept of what it is to really want, need, or go without. His young mind cannot put it into perspective. I blame myself for that. I've not taught him well and have not modeled this behavior for him. And it's time to make a change.
That very day I read a post by Casey Wiegand who linked a similar post from Jami. It's like these two ladies were speaking straight to my heart.
It's hard to know how to go about this the right way. We've participated in Operation Christmas Child twice and H got that. We've bought chicks for World Vision - Child Sponsorship. But it's not enough. I don't want to weigh down his little heart with the hurts in the world, but it's time we all start giving a little more thought to what we can do to help others lives, instead of focusing on helping ourselves.
These are our resolutions.
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 NIV
Thank you for the much needed inspiration...hopefully all of us who read this can get some perspective. Good luck with your search, let us all know how its going along the way.
ReplyDeleteWow - your basement is totally transformed! Now I'm inspired to clean all the junk out of mine!
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