If you come over to my house right now, you will see this bag hanging on the hallway closet doorknob. Up until saturday I did not know what was in this bag. Last week I had told Josh that I really really wanted just a couple of hours to clean and de-clutter the house. Clutter and the build up of stuff is just a perpetuial pain in my rear. I can never quite break free from clutter. It seems like most days I can just barely get the basics done- dishes, wipe the table, and sweep. So needless to say extras (like the sock pile 2 feet tall on our dresser, the bags of clothes that Judah has already outgrown sitting in his room, and the months of mail sitting on the computer desk) don't even get a second glance. Well as I was decluttering the house Saturday I decided it was time to look in the bag. I did not find anything exciting, gross, or long lost. It was just a few things we brought home with us from the hospital after Judah was born......................wait for it..................SIX MONTHS AGO!!!!! Can you believe it??? This bag is in our only hallway in a small house, hanging on a door that I open EVERY. DARN. DAY!! And it has been sitting there without anyone looking in it  for half of a YEAR! Oh my, wow. Is all I can say about that. oh and guess what. On saturday, I did make that sock pile smaller, and went through all my mail. (The clothes are still on the floor in Judah's room) BUT there that bag still sits. oh well.  I do have a point besides what a terrible housekeeper I am.

     Lately I have been trying to be purposeful about the time I spend with my kids.  They are growing and changing so fast. Today the older two were napping and Judah wasn't quite ready for his yet. So I laid on the floor in his room with him playing. And even though I am a MOM first. I still have this voice in the back of my head saying "if he's happily playing - you could clean that bathroom or prep for dinner"  I actually have a hard time sitting and playing with my kids sometimes. I forget, at times, that my most important role right now is being mom to Grace, Gabe and Judah. That all the other things I spend time doing wont last or matter years from now. My job is to raise these three little people, and then do what I can do about everything else. But sometimes I still have to fight the urge to finish cleaning up instead of reading a book, or prepping dinner instead of cuddling my baby. As I was processing all of this today a verse popped into my head. " Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward and that the master you are serving is Christ." Colossians 3:23-24  I assume that Jesus cares more about the way I speak to my children, then my dirty floors. More about spending time playing and creating memories then perfect dinners, and well that bag hanging in the hallway........maybe he would just walk past it too?