Lessons from Little Women

Little Morgan, hanging out with her Auntie

My little ray of sunshine, who always loves me no matter what :)

Jillian's Babyshower...can you tell it is a girl?

It was a long, busy, and emotion-packed day. Ben and Mercedes were here with little Morgan, and they had lots to do before they could actually hit the road for Homer. I got some much needed time with miss Morgan, who is getting cuter everyday. Steve is sick, so he is a little out of sorts. I have quite a bit of homework, but do not want to do it. Unfortunately, procrastination only makes me more stressed, and having a poor, sick husband to take care of does not help. Once the little Homer-bound family hit the road, I got the dishes and some laundry done before showering and heading to the church to set up for a friends baby shower with Kelsey. It all came together just in time, and the party was a successful two hours of fun and fellowship. 
Seems like I would have had a great day, right?'

Wrong. Once I got home, I settled into my recliner to finish Little Women. It is such a good book with a heartwarming story and realistic characters you cannot help but love. And it was written in a different time, and thus gives realistic insight into the day to day lives of women during the end if the 19th century. I cried bitterly tonight as the plot unfolded. Not just for what happens in the story, but also with disappointment in myself. How lazy and undisciplined I am compared to those "little women!" I have been struggling with similar feelings for weeks, and this book brought those feelings to my attention like a knife to my heart. How poorly I feel I do at maintaining my home and my tongue the way God had instructed me to do so in his word. Yet all I can do is feel ashamed, rather than making any changes! I try, but clearly I do not try enough because I know "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This includes living a life of responsibility and discipline, it must!

It isn't that my house is dirty or that I am often speaking negatively, although that is the case occasionally. It is that I know I could do even better at keeping our home organized, or at planning meals better so we waste less food and feel less tempted to "run to the store" for ingredients to make a certain meal, when we have food at our home to eat. It is that I could speak less and listen more, and save many conversations for my Heavenly Father. It is that even when I get home exhausted from work with school still to do, that I give my husband the attention and love he deserves, rather than expecting it all from him without giving of myself. It is all these things and so many more. I am praying that I may increase in Godliness each day and therefore improve in all these things I have mentioned and in those things I did not mention but that still weigh heavily on my heart. My tears can be shed in conversation with my God, who soothes better than any on earth and loves truer also. With these serious thoughts I bid you goodnight....