You Mean.....Delegate??!!!!

I love a clean house, don't you??

There is nothing better to me than to have a shiny sink, empty of dirty dishes. I love to see empty clothes hampers and laundry baskets. I love sofas with pillows upright and prettily displayed. Dining room tables that are empty of everything except a pretty centerpiece.

I love floors with no dust on them and shiny from just being freshly mopped. Made beds, toys picked up and put away, supper simmering in the crockpot..........ah, yes....it just doesn't get any better than that.

Reality in my house though, is this...

Dishes piled everywhere. Is this one clean? Maybe. Maybe not. Laundry?? Oh my goodness...Climbing the walls and falling out of the hamper..none of it clean and what is clean, is lying in a piled gather wrinkles that will now have to be ironed out.

Dust on the floor so deep that the thought of an indoor garden comes to mind and stepping on 'kid stuff' has become the norm.

Why is this going on? Who is the culprit behind the chaos?

Is it DH? How about DD or DS? Yes I could blame it on them, but then I would be playing the blame game. The culprit is........

ME.

Yes, me.

In Exodus 18: 13-26, Jethro notices that Moses is falling apart. Having a hard time. Getting frustrated, worn out and not much good to anybody.

Moses is spending day in and day out listening to everybody's problems and trying to fix them. From big deal stuff to stuff that really didn't matter, Moses was dealing with it and he'd gotten into the mind frame that he was the only one who could make everything run like clock-work.

Have you ever been there? I have. Regularly.

I've been there recently.

Now, am I making all the mess in my house? No. Then how am I the culprit, you might wonder.....simple.

God has shown me that I'm trying to walk in the footsteps of Moses. I'm trying to do everything on my own. Why?

Because, of course, no one can do anything right except me. No one can do things the way I want them done except me. Me. Me . Me.

The culprit is....me.

If I don't make the beds, wash the dishes, do the laundry, sweep the floor, knock down the cobwebs, kill the dust bunnies..then it won't get done "right."

In verse 14, Jethro asked Moses, "What are you really accomplishing here? Why are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from morning to evening?" (NLT)

In other words...Moses (Deb), what are you actually accomplishing? You're frazzled and frustrated because you're trying to do all of this by yourself.

Moses replies in verse 15, "Because the people come to me......they come to me.......I am the one who settles the case.....I inform the people....."

Me, me, me. I, I, I......no wonder Moses (Deb) feels overworked and underpaid. The only one that can do anything is ......me.

What a pathetic but successful lie from satan.

In verse 17 Jethro tells Moses, "This is not good!! You're going to wear yourself out-and the people too. This job is too heavy a burden to handle all by yourself." (NLT)

Now, I'm not for a minute suggesting that being a wife and mom is a burden, but it can be a very tiring and frustrating job when you are doing the same things over and over and never being at a place when you can feel 'okay' sitting down and relaxing because you're still thinking about the Jello you need to clean up off the floor or the 48th load of laundry that needs folded and put away.

Jethro goes on to tell Moses that he needs to delegate....he needs to assign the smaller jobs to people and let them handle them while Moses himself deals with the bigger matters and overseeing the rest.

This advice from Jethro is golden and very much needed to be followed by us wives and moms.

So what if little Johnny's bed has wrinkles in it or if little Susie has the clothes hung up inside out? Yes, show them the proper way to do something, but accept that just because they do it differently doesn't mean that they are doing it wrong. Delegate those small chores and oversee them but...don't take over. You do the big jobs, the jobs that would be unsafe for little hands to do.

Does it really matter if Billy has to roll the garbage bag outside because he's too short to carry it? Nope.

Does it really matter if Sally doesn't get every little dust bunny from under the bed? Nope.

Delegate the bigger jobs to those teenagers. Hand them the grocery list and the cash and let them run to the store for you while you are cooking supper or in the middle of baking cookies.

Let them cook supper while you iron hubby's clothes.

Let them show you they can take care of the house for a day or two while you and DH get away for some much needed de-stress time.

Verses 24-26 says this, "Moses listened to his father-in-law's advice and followed his suggestions. He chose capable men from all over Israel and appointed them as leaders over the people. He put them in charge of groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten. These men were always available to solve the people's common disputes. They brought the major cases to Moses, but they took care of the smaller matters themselves." (NLT)

It's as simple as that. You handle the 'big stuff' but delegate the 'smaller stuff' and don't concern yourself that it's not done how you would do it. Just accept the blessing that it's done and now you are free to enjoy your family...........which is what any wife and mom would rather be doing anyway!!!!

Blessings, peace and easier days in your home!!

Deb


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