Summary: Drum roll please... Would you believe that today I posted my 1000th post? That's a lot of writing over the years! I want to do something to celebrate. Hmmm... How about a giveaway? Sign up for my newsletter and you'll be entered to win a $25.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com! Leave a comment below letting me know you signed up. Triple Bonus Points for following me on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest! Be sure to leave a comment and let me know you followed me! The drawing will be held on Wednesday, April 17th! Okay, so that was fun! Let's get on with finding the calm in our chaos... From Chaos to Calm: Day Twenty-Eight The Daily Order Scripture Memory: “Let all things be done decently and in order.” 1 Corinthians 14:40 Download the .pdf version of this article. Today we will be looking at the daily order, or in other words, how you go about your day. When I was younger, I had no idea how to run a household. Many of the things I have learned over the years have come by trial and error. I have found that my greatest enemy has been lack of self-discipline. I believe this to be the case for many women who feel frustrated at home. We have talked about self-discipline in the past and I want to reiterate the importance of learning self-discipline. If this is something you still struggle with, it needs to be at the top of your prayer list! Our Scripture memory for today says, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” God is not a God of chaos. He is a God of order. When you life a life full of order, you bring honor and glory to His name. Think about it. If you walk into someone’s home and there are dirty dishes stacked in the sink, clean laundry covers the sofa, stacks of magazines sit on top of a floor that obviously needs vacuuming… you would think this person does not have their life together. However, if you walk into someone’s home who has their house tidy and smelling like fresh baked bread or cookies and they have a smile on their face to greet you - you know they are doing something right. We have put together our household notebooks so that we have sheets for planning our days. On a separate sheet of paper, I want you to write down the chores you know you should be doing on a regular basis in order for the house to stay clean. There are several approaches to your chores that you can take: 1. Do one room of your house each day: This approach works best if you have a small house. You can divide it up like Monday - Kitchen, Tuesday - bathrooms, Wednesday - laundry, Thursday - bedrooms, Friday - living rooms. 2. You can have certain chores for each day: This works well for a lot of people. This method has stood the test of time. Down through the ages women have had certain tasks for certain days. Monday - laundry, Tuesday - bathrooms & floors, etc. If you have a small family (2 -3 people) it is much easier to do laundry once a week. However, if you are like me (lots of kids) you may find it much easier to simply do two loads a day. If I wait a week to do the laundry it piles up so high I would have to spend 20 hours washing it! I like to have certain chores for each day of the week. My weekly cleaning schedule looks like this: Monday: floors - mopping, vacuuming Tuesday: kitchen chores - refrigerator, stove, small appliances Wednesday: bathrooms Thursday: sheets and linens Friday: baking, dusting, Sabbath preparation. By doing my morning and evening routines religiously each day followed by my weekly chores, my entire house can stay company ready most of the time. I admit there are days when nothing goes as planned or something will come up that takes away my time. However, if I am disciplined, I will maintain an orderly house on a regular basis. So, today as you look at your schedule. Begin to fill out the daily schedule print out and organize your daily tasks. You may want to print out one for each day of the week and go to on its respective day.
