- Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
- She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness
- She is like the merchants ships, she bringeth her food from afar
One of the worst failures I've had in the last few weeks involves the kitchen/dining table. It's right by the carport door, and it's the landing pad for everything that comes into the house, from purchases to mail to purse or backpack.
A few years ago, I started lighting candles every Friday night to welcome the Biblical Sabbath. I was working outside the home at the time, so Fridays involved stopping on the way home from work to pick up a rotisserie chicken from the deli of a local grocery, a loaf of bread and maybe a couple of sides, then rushing into the house, and hurrying to get a space cleared so we could light the candles and eat.
Fast forward a few years, and I was no longer working, so I did better about clearing the table and getting things ready on Friday, but it was still hit-and-miss sometimes if I got the table cleared all the way before dinner.
Then we started a Friday night Bible study in our home, centered around the table, so you can be sure that it was cleared every week! When the Bible study ended, I kept up the habit of using Friday evenings to clear off the table and get it ready for our family Shabbat.
Even though we use this table daily, and it's still our landing pad for whatever comes in the back door, there was something about clearing it off completely once a week that helped us to keep it picked up the rest of the week as well.
Then several weeks ago we started attending Shabbat elsewhere, and without that weekly clearing off, the table disintegrated into chaos!
I made up my mind last week when I came home to a messy table, that whether we are home or away on Friday nights, the table will be cleared and ready.
And after today---it's ready!
I know from experience that we'll set the mail down on it again, and leave books and papers and everything else on it from time to time--but knowing that it will be cleared off every Friday helps us to be conscious about keeping it (somewhat) picked up the rest of the week.
How do you incorporate your cleaning into your weekly routine? Do you have certain days that you do certain things?
Until next time...
That's a bone of contention in our house, Charlene. We have one formal sit down meal a day so the table does get cleared off, but only moving the stuff to the one empty chair. I always look at those decorating magazines with the pretty tablescapes and wonder how they manage to do it. Any flat surface is fair game at our house!
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting about your Shabbat services. I read that a lot of Christians are embracing the Hebrew roots. I'm sure God would have protected your son if he had gone to Israel. I've heard from several people that have gone, that amid the turmoil it is the most peaceful experience. I would love to go one day, but for now will have to be content with being an armchair traveler.
We used to do the same thing--as a matter of fact, I often just pushed things to one end while we ate at the other! I got much better when I knew we were having guests every week, we needed all of the chairs and the full table, so I would at least pick everything up and move it to the sofa or desk in my spare room! It's hard in a small house, and we do the same thing--any flat surface ends up piled with books, mail, whatever! I've fallen off the cleaning wagon since our Bible study ended, it kind of forced me to look at the whole house, or at least the "public" areas, at least once a week, and having to re-do the picking up and putting away week after week helped me become more conscious of where I put something down--knowing I'd have to pick it up by Friday, I guess!
DeleteI know in my head that our son would have been safe in Israel, but the mother heart in my was glad he didn't go this year! I would love to go, as well, but for now I think I will have to do it vicariously through him.
We aren't part of any "official" Hebrew roots group, but it's definitely a direction we've moving as family for a long time. The more I read and study, and more fascinating it becomes. I have a Chumash,which is the Torah and Haftarah portions, as well as festival readings, and commentary, it's translated directly from Hebrew to English. I read something there, then get our my trusty KJV and concordance, and sometimes another version or two to read to see if it "really says it that way". Seems I've seen all kinds of things in scripture that I either never saw or noticed or paid attention to before. I keep saying that I want to learn to read Hebrew; our son can some, but so far I've procrastinated on committing to that much study. Maybe after the first of year!
How do I keep the kitchen table clean? I came up with a sure fire way -- I got rid of our kitchen table. Problem solved :) It then forced us to eat at the dining room table which led to lingering conversations once the meal was over. As for the clutter -- yes sadly it just finds somewhere else to land.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by---our kitchen table is our dining table, so there's no getting rid of it! I just have to keep working on it, lol!
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