I am participating in a Homemaker's Challenge this fall. 31 Days to Clean: Having a Martha House the Mary Way is a great little e-book that, "...is about the “why” and the vision and the heart for taking care of our domains." Plus, it has a plan to get the whole house deep cleaned in 31 days! It is a cleaning devotional book, brilliant!
The story of Mary and Martha is found in Luke 10:38-42. Jesus was visiting their home and Mary sat intently at his feet, while Martha ran about getting things done. Martha expressed her frustration that Mary was not helping but Jesus gently reminded her that Mary had a purpose in her focus. In the same way getting things done, without a focus on Jesus, will leave us with a clean house (for at least 5 minutes) that lacks purpose and fulfillment that can only come from him.
This first week I kept up with the reading but not the cleaning. I hope to get caught up this weekend. I love that the first cleaning challenges focus on the kitchen. It is the room where I spend the most time.
Day 2 was cleaning out the refrigerator and freezer. It felt good to see it cleaned but painful to see a big bag of food in the garbage.
In January I took a life changing trip to Ethiopia. It was my first experience in a developing country. I guarantee this garbage bag of food would not go to waste there. Since January I have tried to use all the food we purchase. However, I still occasionally end up with a bag like this one and it makes me feel sick.
As part of my mission statement I had a list of goals. One of those goals was to utilize all the food I purchase. In Luke 12:48 it says,
"...from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
The truth is I live at an extremely high standard of living. My husband has been blessed with a good job and I believe that God expects better of me than a garbage bag full of food. My prayer is that I can be a good steward of what God has entrusted to me.
The story of Mary and Martha is found in Luke 10:38-42. Jesus was visiting their home and Mary sat intently at his feet, while Martha ran about getting things done. Martha expressed her frustration that Mary was not helping but Jesus gently reminded her that Mary had a purpose in her focus. In the same way getting things done, without a focus on Jesus, will leave us with a clean house (for at least 5 minutes) that lacks purpose and fulfillment that can only come from him.
This first week I kept up with the reading but not the cleaning. I hope to get caught up this weekend. I love that the first cleaning challenges focus on the kitchen. It is the room where I spend the most time.
Day 2 was cleaning out the refrigerator and freezer. It felt good to see it cleaned but painful to see a big bag of food in the garbage.
In January I took a life changing trip to Ethiopia. It was my first experience in a developing country. I guarantee this garbage bag of food would not go to waste there. Since January I have tried to use all the food we purchase. However, I still occasionally end up with a bag like this one and it makes me feel sick.
As part of my mission statement I had a list of goals. One of those goals was to utilize all the food I purchase. In Luke 12:48 it says,
"...from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
The truth is I live at an extremely high standard of living. My husband has been blessed with a good job and I believe that God expects better of me than a garbage bag full of food. My prayer is that I can be a good steward of what God has entrusted to me.
This post is linked to
I can resonate with that garbage full of food. My family always grumbles about leftovers, but I always remind them they have much more to eat than our Compassion child in Thailand! It is a good way to keep perspective!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post! We also throw away way more food that we should. What a good reminder that I need to be a good steward with my food purchases too.
ReplyDelete~Stacy
Good thoughts. I hadn't thought of stewardship in the area of food and I definitely need to work on it!
ReplyDeleteI can relate as well with the throwing the food in the garbage. Just the other day I had to throw nearly an entire crock pot of chicken noodle soup in the garbage because it was accidentally left out.
ReplyDeleteThat was definitely a cringing moment for me.
Thank you for joining us, Ingrid!