I saw a quote by John Piper that talked about how God's painting a new sunset and sunrise all the time, - not just once a day - because different parts of the world see it at different times. - it was a lot more eloquent than that, but it made me think about how Faithful that really is. Not just each morning . . . but each moment for everyone else's morning.
While landing in Hawaii in May, there was a sunset outside of my window. I had just had a horrible flight, and at 17 wks pregnant, couldn't wait to get off that stinkin plane. But the sunset really spoke to me. I pictured God delighting in painting it. I imagined the impossibleness of Him muttering, "Dang it. Guess I have to go stroke another sunrise." It just didn't make sense!
These kind of prayers, pondering, and realizations have happened off and on but today I'm feeling like it's really starting to be manifested in my life.
My definition of clean really isn't all that amazing. Maybe it's because my mom cleans for a living and her standards grant her an A+ rating on Angie's List. Or maybe it's . . . no, no, I'm really cool with mess. Not grossness, but mess. And it really doesn't help that I have a hubby who's totally fine with whatever our house looks like. The only thing he cares about is one side of the sink being open so he's able to fill his water. Score. Still, while it's nice to not have the pressure, . . . . I'm also lacking some substantial motivation. That being said, I really really like being in homes, or seeing pictures of homes that are lived-in, but peaceful. There's a calm from life's chaos because there's minimal clutter and things are put where they should be. It's easy to rest there. To want to soak in the moment and breathe it in.
This is really hard in our house because we don't have a lot of furniture - no table, no couches, and no real bed. We used to have all of them - 3 couches actually - and over the past 3 years we've continued to make our home fit our lifestyle. I think that's a whole different blog post, so I'll just get to yesterday:
I went on a Farm Day with a homeschooling group and it was awesome but what stuck with me the most was this lady's house. It was big, true enough, but everything seemed to have a purpose and charm to it. She's a homesteader so there was a grain mill on a butcher's table, a 6-foot-tall drying rack for herbs in the corner, and a breath-taking bay-window behind the sink. Ugh. I want.
She had two little girls, and I'm sure she cleaned before we all came, but still. Something about that home really resonated with me. So when I got home I was really inspired and reworked things in our house, put things in their place (which meant bringing our nightstands up from the basement - I know, I know. But it was worth it ;) I'm really taking pride in it now, ya know? It feels good to be in there and look at it. I actually WANT to pick up the random articles as I walk by them instead of waiting until it's time to "clean the living room."
This morning I put together this craZy contraption for the Einkorn wheat berries that I soaked last night because they're supposed to drain at an angle - WHAT?! grr - but I feel good about find a solution with two things under our cupboard, one thing from the basement. I also moved our dehydrator, made cookies, and picked up. Not to mention making the best soup I've had in a while that was super simple and getting the dishes done last night. And I felt darn good about all of them.
It's like I can fill the momentum building. I can see Him in all this - and that's really exciting. Especially because it's not like I was exactly faithful in remember to pray for this all the time. But He heard the ones I did say. And today my heart feels like it could explode with all this coming to fruition. It seriously feels good.
