Wednesday, January 11, 2012

You've got some 'splaining to do!

So, I realized that my blog about not doing a home organizational binder was not very well explained, and so probably not very well received.

Let me explain.

In the 8.5 years I have been married, I have created a different type of organizational system every single year.  New way to track budgets, keep schedules, save mementos, clean the house...
I am a VERY scheduled, planned person.  And, Mr. Curly would add, slightly neurotic about sticking to a schedule/plan once it has been made.  Flexibility has never been easy for me.

But as I mentioned in the other post, flexibility really is needed in Mr. Curly's job, and in a house with three children ages 4, 2 and 9 months.  Rigid schedules are fine when I'm in the office, but I don't work in an office anymore, I work at home.  And rigid schedules just don't work.  I've learned that over this past almost year.

And I realized the other night, when Mr. Curly got called from a ministry event to the hospital, thus wrecking my plans for what we were supposed to do together, as I set on the couch, trying NOT to get more and more angry, that I need to take a step back.  I need to learn to let go a little. 
Yes, I am important in Mr. Curly's life, but sometimes, other people will need him too.

Yes, one thing that is important in our family is that we have a clean home, that we care for what God has provided us.  You can't see what needs to be fixed in a home if it is always buried under clutter.  You can't enjoy the many blessings God has given you, when they are buried, strewn around, always being stepped on or kicked to the side.
Yes, time schedules are important.  It is important to be where you need to be at the time you said you would be there.  It is important (at least to my sanity) that my children have a good nap time each day, it makes our evenings as a family much easier.
Yes, having Mr. Curly involved in the budget and organization of our money and things is important, it is his home too, he needs to know where things are and why, what money we have available and why.

BUT they are not the most important things.  Its ok if I don't get my craft table cleaned off because Curly Baby had a bad night and needs to cuddle.
It's ok if Curly Girl's school papers are stacked in a pile in the corner, if it means she can find that one special drawing to show her daddy when he gets home from work.
It's alright that Curly Boy's train set is still in the middle of the room, hours after being abandoned, because it means that we had taken the time that day to set up the train set and play together.

My children, my husband, and how I respond to them and show them my love, my relationship with God and the time I spend listening and communing with Him, are much more important than spreadsheets, cleaning schedules, grocery lists, meal plans or any other list I can make.

So for me, to give up the organizational binder this year, is a matter of growing my relationship with God, it is a matter of being there for my family and being relaxed enough to enjoy the time we have together.

It is not easy for me to be flexible.  It seems silly, but, yes, I am planning for spontaneity. 
I will still have a cleaning schedule.  I will still make grocery lists (that's just smart - it saves time and money and ensures healthy meals), but for the most part, I'm going to spend this year listening to God, and to my family, to dictate where my time goes.

And I think it's going to be our best year ever.

1 comment:

betafish06 said...

We are at opposite spans of the spectrum there! I am so spontaneous ( and despise cleaning) that sometimes I have to put some type of organiziation into my life and well I SUCK at doing that. I get all frustrated because I don't know how to organize well, and then guess what we are MOVING again right after I organize anything so.. what is the point! Haha. The point is to show my family that I love them by organizing and being able to find what we need when we need it.. But its so HARD.