They're Baaa-aaack!!!

I LOVE being a stay-at-home Mom, but some days I can understand the allure of remaining in the workforce. When I was working in Charlotte, the office I showed up to every morning in my nice, pressed suit was clean and bright. There was always fresh coffee brewing, and free juice compliments of one of our biggest clients, Coca-Cola/Minute Maid, in the break room. Occasionally someone would bring in hot, fresh bagels from one of those fancy boutique bakeries! Yes, there's something nice about spending your work day in an orderly, clean, civilized environment!

Fast forward to 2008. . . Now I'm in charge of my "work environment" which seems like it should be a simple task since I'm physically at home most of the day. What I have found, however, is that besides the two little tornadoes at home with me all day, the laws of physics themselves are conspiring against my efforts! I can spend an entire day cleaning, vacuuming, doing laundry, dusting and organizing, step back and admire my accomplishment, and the next day my home will look like, as my Grandma Campbell used to say, the wreck of the Hesperus again! And not just in the big things like unmade beds, dirty dishes, or clutter but even the small things, like dust! Where is it coming from?! We have hardwood floors through 90% of our home, AND we have three air purifiers which are supposed to drastically cut down the amount of dust. So, how is it that a day after I dust the ENTIRE house, I am finding, not just surface dust, but dust bunnies!? They congregate under the tables, camp out under my bed, and bounce across the floors like miniature tumble weeds through the hardwood desert of our den! I am tempted to say that it's just the law of atrophy at work, but at the rate in which they show up, it's like a conspiracy! My home seems to have been designated a dust-bunny sanctuary (maybe I missed the letter from Al Gore) where they are free to roam and multiply! I find myself fighting this battle daily. Every time I think I am making head-way, I have to start all over again.

God has woven the story of redemption into the fabric of creation. The law of atrophy tells us that things don't get better over time and on their own! But as we see Spring budding, we are reminded that the winter of atrophy in our souls has been conquered, and new life is available to us through Christ. But the world is still groaning, and although our sins have been forgiven and God sees us as perfect through the work of His Son, that doesn't mean that we don't still have to fight our fallen nature daily! The battles of my flesh keep coming back, and once more I must fight them. Just when I think I've conquered a particular hill in my life, it shows up again, or a new one presents itself. It's like that children's song, The Bear Went Over the Mountain (to see what he could see). And what do you think he saw? Another mountain! Frankly, it gets tiring. But every time I suck up a dust bunny in my Electrolux, I remind myself that one day I won't have to fight those battles of the flesh anymore! God will provide the perfect work environment for me in whatever place He is preparing, and atrophy will be a foreign word. For now, I'll suit up for another day on planet Earth, toast myself a cheap, Food Lion bagel, and do my best to fight the good fight to the Glory of the One who reminds me daily that He has already won the war.