I Woke Up...

 Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!  Psalm 106:1

This morning I woke up to ...

*Dishes scattered (not stacked) along every square inch of counter space, because that's the way they were when we left the house yesterday morning for an all-day doctor's appointment, got home just in time for kids' after school snack and left again for church, only to return for all-around bath time and last-minute homework

*Three bathrooms screaming for cleaning

*One load of clean towels on the kitchen table (thank goodness, because the bathroom cabinets are empty)

*At least ten loads of dirty laundry

*Enough crunchies on the floor to make me grit my teeth

*A Bible study to complete

*An unfinished sewing project on the kitchen table (opposite end of the laundry)

*Stacks of paperwork in order of priority on my desk

*A transcript needing final proofreading

*Two phone calls to be returned

*One dental appointment to be made

*One prescription to be picked up

*One birthday to prepare for

Are you right there with me?  I feel better knowing I'm not alone :/

We are conquerors!  Because we woke up...and we got up!

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalm 118:24

I used to go to bed with the dishes done and put away, and ditto for the laundry.

I guess that was before I had a preschooler at home, six kids to get on the bus, one to pray off to high school, one to pray off to college, one to pray for in job training, one to pray for in marriage, and one to pray home from China.

So, I got up and praised the Lord.  I ignored all the things I really longed to have done yesterday and went instead to my Bible study.  Because while tidying up the outside does bring some calm to the chaotic inside, cleansing the inside brings the strength to change the outside in due time.

It is in vain that you rise up early
    and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
    for he gives to his beloved sleep.  Psalm 127:2


Lord, help me to put the first things first, without grumbling and complaining.  Help me to keep You first, and give me strength to do what comes next.  May You alone be glorified.