Day 7: The Curse {31 days to clean}

Day 7: The Curse (What We're Up Against)
I had a bit of a hard time understanding this chapter and I do not claim to be an expert in the realm of theology!  Of course I've heard/read the story of the Fall in the Garden of Eden many times, but I did not ever see the connection between "The Curse" and the frustrations of homemaking, as Sarah Mae wrote about in this chapter.  In the verses below, it's clear that Adam's life and work would be much more difficult:
“Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you shall eat the plants of the field...” (Genesis 3:17-18)
And Eve's curse:
To the woman he said,
   “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
   with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband, 
   and he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16)


As far as how this relates to my struggle with homemaking, I think the cause can be found here, where God is cursing the serpent, Satan:
And I will put enmity between you and the woman.. (Genesis 3:15)


Satan has a special hatred toward women; after all, we are givers of life!  He despises life!  Satan is crafty in his ways and tries with all his might to drag us away from being the life-giving women God has called us to be.  Some of his tactics:

• Distractions
• Perfection
• Procrastination
• Envy

All of those things can certainly work against us to make us unproductive in our homes.  One thing to remember is this:
"Work is not the Curse, unproductive work is."
I really liked that quote!  


After all that bad news, herein lies our hope:
"Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay." Romans 8:20-21 (NLT)



The frustration and pain are only temporary in this life, as we have the hope of the coming glory of God and freedom from the bondage of death and decay....Hallelujah!


Martha Challenge: Clean and organize your pantry-already done when I cleaned out my cabinets!

Day 6: The Six List {31 days to clean}

Day6: The Six List - The $25,000 Piece of AdviceI am very far behind on this challenge, but after a few detours I am still trying to work my way through it.  I'm not going to give up even if it takes me all summer...which it might ;-) 

"Every night before bed write down the top six things, in order, that you need to accomplish the next day (no more than six). Then, go systematically through the list, completing the tasks in order, crossing out each thing as you go."

Mary Challenge: Use the Six List for 6 days: what doesn't get done one day goes to the top of the list for the next day.  

• This has been very helpful, as it forces me to prioritize and work towards checking things off my list!  I have always been a list-maker, but I usually make lists that are unrealistic and have a whole page full of things I need to do.  Having just 6 things makes me feel like I can actually accomplish something!

Martha Challenge: Clean out and organize all of the kitchen cabinets.  This took me a few days, but I finished it! It felt pretty good too :)

Here are a few before and after pictures of some of the cabinets I cleaned out:

Before: 

 After: I also found a pearl earring I'd been missing! It was in a coffee cup on the top shelf :)

 Before: Yikes!

 After: better

 Before: cabinet that holds school supplies, baby food, and who knows what else!

After: 

 After: the same cabinet from another angle and door-art supplies and other school stuff:

Before: an upper cabinet.  I found about 5 lego sets in this cabinet that we had forgotten about!

 After:

 After: cookbooks, forgot to take a before picture of this one.