Nudge, Nudge

How must I show responsibility in my family?
Does my lack of acting responsibly affect those in my family?
Does God call me to model responsibility?

My need to reflect upon this word and my relationship with responsibility is due, in part, to a situation that occured this morning when Zane woke up. Out of the crib he climbed and immediately turned and yelled in my face, "Mommy! Clean up my room!"

Um, I don't think so.

However, as much as I wanted to tell him to put a lid on it, I secretly wondered if I had somehow played a role in his behavior. After all, my room is a complete mess most of the time, and yet, I am always asking my children to clean up. And it's not as if I have assigned specific chores for Zane (other than helping to put the toys away downstairs), nor have I had the mental or physical fortitude to tackle the idea of family chores over the past few months. The mere thought of implementing a new "plan" or "routine" just fatigues me.

And yet, this does him no good. It does no good to say "Clean up!" when I'm not modeling the behavior myself, and it does no good to avoid putting some schedule in place to help facilitate a daily habit of responsibilities for all the members of this family.

Matthew 25:21 says
“The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together! (NLT)

While I've not worked all of this out in my head or heart yet, I do know that one of the ways I feel compelled to pray for my family is in the area of our faithfulness in handling "small amounts" (or "few things" in the NIV, NAS). God has given us so many wonderful "small amounts" and He's given us the tools to use them wisely. Have we?

I've come to the conclusion that perhaps we can not get out of this overwhelming pit where we are constantly trying to play catch up in our home because we are indeed NOT being faithful in the small amounts that God asks us to tend to every day. This doesn't mean that I am leaning towards a legalistic or rigid plan of attack. I am leaning towards finding the CELEBRATION that God speak of in this verse. Where's the party????? How do we develop a spirit of sanctuary and celebration in our home?

I believe, that until we dig out (as right now the small amounts are in piles all over the place) and actually handle and take responsibility for the small daily things, we will not experience a CELEBRATION. And for sure, we won't be given any larger responsibilities that could benefit our family.

This is just the beginning of a prayerful thought process based upon some nudgings I've been getting from the Lord.

Ah, I love a good nudge. Don't you?