A Bedtime Story for Mommy

Once upon a time, there was a mommy who LOVED her life with her husband and two precious children. Her family made her feel like a queen and she treasured spending time with them. But the queen did not like it when her castle was messy. As hard as she tried, she just could not relax in a messy house. She feared that an unexpected guest would find her home in absolute filth. Laundry made the queen especially irritated. Sometimes as the queen begrudgingly did her chores, she even acted more like a "wicked stepmother" instead of the nice mommy God designed her to be. The queen was angry because she would rather be snuggling in a chair reading to her prince and princess than folding the evil piles of laundry that never seemed to end.

One day at a time and several years later, the queen decided that she had had enough! No more would she allow a messy house to bother her and steal her joy. She decided that she would do a few chores a day instead of letting them all pile up. She got herself organized and made a cleaning schedule. She gave her children age appropriate chores and made it fun for them to complete them. She made a pact with the another queen in her kingdom that they would not feel obligated to clean their castles before having each other over. And when the chores did pile up as they just seem to do, she made time with her husband and children the priority.

She studied Proverbs 31 and began to consider it an act of worship to care for her family. By changing her perspective about her chores, the queen began to actually enjoy her mundane tasks. She even found that listening to Christian music while folding laundry magically transformed her once dreaded chore into much needed time alone with God.

So, the moral of the story is...

Housework can wait, my children need kisses.
They want me to play, I'll put off the dishes.
When they're grown, I'll keep the house spic 'n' span...
But children grow fast so I'll play while I can.

And...when unexpected guests arrive and the house is a mess...
Repeat the following:
"The house was clean yesterday, sorry you missed it!"

Now that's a fairy tale ending!