Saturday Expectations

My preference on Saturdays is to sleep late, lay on the couch, take a nap, and watch tv. I'm closing my eyes in bliss at the thought. Now that hasn't happened since sometime before we had Micah! And really, what a waste of time if done on a regular basis! Not to say I wouldn't enjoy it every now and then :) 

Saturdays now have a much more productive and fun flow to them. The family has to eat breakfast; we go to staff meeting at church at 10:30 and visit our bus route; the family has to eat again. Then the children take naps. Everybody has to eat again! (We do a lot of eating around here. There have been occasions when I wanted to feed everyone a banana and send them to bed!) I have to finish a minimal amount of cleaning and home upkeep and then get everything ready for Sunday! It's actually much less than what I do on a normal weekday; don't feel sorry for me! But occasionally I run into a problem. 

Most of the time when I run into a problem, it's me! And the same is true in this occasion. When I run into a problem on Saturdays it's my expectations. I expect to take a good nap. I expect to sit around. I expect to be lazy. And guess what? It doesn't work that way and it shouldn't! I don't need to be lazy! God gave me a work to do and the strength to do it! 

photo courtesy of vlado/http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

So how do I combat these wrong expectations? I've been finding that my greatest offense (and defense!) is Scripture! I remind myself what God says I am to be doing.

• I am to take excellent care of our home.Proverbs 31:27 says, "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." I'm not supposed to be idle. 

• I am to train my children. Proverbs 29:15: "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." My children need my attention, correction, and love even on the weekend. It's not a day off.

• I am to help my husband. Genesis 2:18: "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." My husband needs me to be taking care of things here with a good attitude. 

If I am busy reminding myself what God tells me to do I can have a good attitude and a good Saturday. And you know what? I love our Saturdays. I try to let my husband sleep late and I do fun things with the boys in the afternoon and evening. I love making them happy. Selfishness is never really fun. When my expectations are Biblical I can find joy in knowing that I am pleasing God with my life. (And obviously I'm not perfect.) But I can at least point myself in the right direction.