September 17, 2010
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I love Dorcas Smucker’s Life in the Shoe and her thoughts for today about writing inspiration: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know.” (Actually this is a Hemingway quote, but Dorcas used it today so I’m giving her the credit. She gave credit to Hemingway.)
My true sentence for today: I am tired of working and I want to sit down in a clean house and burn a scented candle and have coffee with a kindred spirit.
Exciting, eh? Very inspirational.
My thoughts consist of a lot more than my narrow, often overwhelmed state of life, but you wouldn’t know it, would you?
I don’t even like that word. OVERWHELMED. I don’t want to be there. Where is the sweet peace and rest Jesus promises?
I am so ashamed at how my peace of mind and happiness is so tied to the cleanliness of my house. Because the house is
neverseldom clean these days, I amneverrarely happy and peaceful.My standards of cleanliness aren’t even high anymore. They have lowered with every baby. They have reached rock bottom with 3 preschoolers who never stop making messes.
Do not get me wrong. Please. When I look into the beautiful brown eyes of my children I realize how incredibly blessed I am. They are my life. I am enjoying them. Right now. As they are.
But when they grow up I know I won’t miss finding 4 torn book covers in one day. I won’t miss scrubbing crayon marks off the walls and pee off of the floor around the toilet. I know without a doubt that I will miss the little people who tore the books and scribbled with the crayons and missed the toilet bowl. I know it! I will long for these days when life was simpler and the questions were easier to answer and the love came more naturally. That’s what you all tell me anyway. (And God knows I need that reminder. Often.)
But tonight a sparkly bathroom, a shiny kitchen, an orderly livingroom and a candle would be heavenly.
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I am looking forward to having company this weekend. The large family coming doesn’t scare me at all because they are so warm and friendly and I know things don’t have to be perfect for them.
What does scare me is the evangelist from Pennsylvania who comes on Monday for a week of meetings. I can just imagine him downstairs studying and hearing the wildness up here that life sometimes entails for us. We are working on not one, but two (sometimes three) screamers right now. I don’t remember the first three screaming much. Probably mostly because we took the time to train them at a younger age. And they weren’t so close together, so the fighting was at a different level. My youngest two have this new thing lately of just bellering when their path is crossed. Very ugly. Can’t stand it. Determined to get on top of it. But it’s still in the p.r.o.c.e.s.s. Will the screaming be cured by Monday night? I doubt it.
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I tried to change the theme on this page because I think this black and white is kind of hard to read, but I can’t figure out how to change it. I’m amazed that I actually figured out how to pick a theme four months ago when I joined Xanga. And I totally forgot what I did. I would take some quick tips from someone who is feeling kind enough to take the time.
Comments (11)
Lucy dear, Thanks for sharing your heart…I can relate to most of what you said…I’m getting ready for a busy weekend of company… i’m not real stressed but my dear daughter is and at some points I think she thinks I don’t care but… I do very much…. I just feel in dispair much before I get to the candle light and totally clean house. (sigh) I made lists most of the week and sometimes i did well and other times it felt like I was spinning my wheels but it is coming together… I’ll pray for you about the PA. preacher… (shudder) I grew up there and know the pressure… Just remember that God knows it all and you don’t have to give an account to this man!!! Blessings to you and your!!! His Princess, Rhoda
Luci…you are truely blessed! I can relate to what you said though.
I love you, my dear sister-in-law!
I think i figured out how to change your theme.. you click on your site name ( up at the top of your page ) it takes you to your home page… then you scroll all the way down. down at the bottom on the left there’s two links. one says edit themes the other one says browse themes click on browse themes. then you can just go through random pages of themes or over on the right there’s a box that says top theme tags and you can pick more specifically. Once you see one you like click on it and it will show you a preview of how it would look on your site…. you can either save it or undo and keep looking… it will also give you the option of remixing it then you can change back ground colors and layout etc. It sorta fun to play around with it!
Have fun 
Oh I so know the feeling of being overwhelmed with the clutter and riot of the house sometimes. I have told my husband so many times, if the house is cleaned up, I am so much more relaxed and less likely to loose it.
Praying things all come together for you the next few weeks!
oh how real. and my husband will say, “well, the house doesn’t look th–a–t bad”
and his mother usually had a neat house and fresh sheets on every bed every week.
that is my true sentence for the day, too!
and i long for the day when i can clean up only after myself and maybe Hubs, if he’s lucky. 
ha. and i can totally relate to “my happiness being dependant upon how clean my house is”….and yes, i have let go of aLoT already…i just want to be able to rock my baby in a sparkling living room where peaceful music flows and no surfaces are sticky. luv.
I could have written this! The whole post rang true to me.
Ahh, your true sentence sounds so nice. Shouldn’t it have something in it that includes the children quietly playing while you talk?
Not ripping any pages out or making a mess… I wish talks with kindred spirits would happen more often. I guess that is partially up to me.
I totally get this.
and I can PROMISE you, I will NOT miss the messiness of children. I like how you said it…you know you will miss the children, but not their messes. Sometimes it about drives me nuts. I LOVE things neat and clean and children do not lend themselves to this atmosphere.
Oh, well. Maybe some day, right?
Wish i could come have coffee while the candle burns.
Wish there were easy answers for busy moms, but haven’t found them yet. Hang in there. 
This is good. Your honesty is so refreshing. I wish my happiness didn’t depend on having a clean house either. How do you get beyond that? i hope you have the chance to sit down over coffee with a good friend. I try to do that every week or two. It is encouraging beyond words.