Choosing Chores

Recently, Jacob said to me, “Dad you don’t have as much time for us because of Audrey right? I wish you had more time, but that will come right?” Second grade wisdom can be like a knife. Mindy and I grew up in big families, so if God allowed, we knew our family was going to be big. But as we grow and make decisions about how many kids to have, much of the deliberation for me has been about time. I want to make sure no kid gets left in the dust. I want to have time with each of them and take special time to care for them.

Adult life is funny. We grow up and just get to start making decisions. We decide where and what to eat, or what we are going to do on a Friday night. We are governed by our resources, and of course, the influence of how others say we should live. This can often translate into chores. There is a certain level of cleanliness in our homes taught to us by our family. We have expectations of what our house should look like when people come over. We have chores that are more important than others and must be done. We are making these decisions based upon need, systems we set up, or time we have available. Of course, our personal hobbies and activities play in there too, and sometimes people and relationships outweigh the dishes being done tonight vs. tomorrow.

Mary and Martha help us talk about something every family must deal with. There are people gifted in cleaning and cooking, and others gifted in caring for bills and the social calendar. We can get upset with one another when we don’t feel like that other person is pulling their weight. Jesus helps Martha see the value of what Mary is doing, and at the same time, He knows the work Martha is doing is important also. This brings us to a tension we have to manage. There are tensions we all manage where chores are equally as important as something else. This weekend we take time to break down the story of Mary and Martha and talk about the balance of life and chores.