My Grimy Little Eden

I shouldn't be writing.

It's a stall tactic.

My kitchen is covered in carrot shreds, there are crumbs and dripping substances caught in the crevices of my cabinets. A pile of laundry is sitting in the doorway. Somehow, I always think that this will make me fold it faster. Instead, I wind up stepping over it 17 times throughout the day and slap-dash folding it right before my honey walks through the door.

Our weekend does not allow for blog posts. We have 15ish women for breakfast Saturday, a church-planting group from Rochester (hellooooo, New York!) coming for dinner, worship team Sunday morning, set-up (gotta love church-in-a-box), and then a big, backyard BBQ after church with 30+ people. 

I should be cleaning bathrooms.

Instead, I'm sitting here, meditating on one of my newest delights... Wanna hear? Yes. You do.

Several weeks ago, I attended a parenting class before church. It was taught by my husband. (I know. He's super-wise, isn't he?!) And as I sat there, like a good lil' student, pen poised and notes ready, he said something which I hadn't thought of for a long time. He said, "God modeled parenting with the Israelites and into the New Testament with the church. God is our Father. He is the example we are to follow when parenting." 

You're saying, "duh."

But my mind was blown away. I knew that God was our Father. I knew I was supposed to be like Christ. But somehow the practical connecting of those dots: parent like God, never really sunk in.

God is a god of order, law, consequences, grace, forever peace... and he parents us like that. Do I parent like that? (And everyone mutters, "Um, obviously not...")

But my whirling mind encountered a beautiful thought when just a couple days later I stumbled across this quote by Derek Kidner:

"The earthly paradise... is a model of parental care. The fledgling is sheltered but not smothered; on all sides discoveries and encounters await him to draw out his powers of discernment and choice, and there is ample nourishment for his aesthetic, physical and spiritual appetites; further, there is a man's work before him for body and mind." (Genesis, p. 61)

As an imitator of the Father God, I am supposed to model Eden!

So when I'm cleaning, organizing, painting... I'm creating a mini-paradise. As I help my kids color, explore, make messes, re-arrange things... I'm letting them explore the way that God wanted Adam and Eve to explore. When I'm structuring the things they're exposed to, the places we go, the books we read, the movies we do (or don't!) watch... I'm nourishing and equipping them for a delightful future of work and delight in God.

Suddenly washing dishes just got a whooooole lot more interesting.

I think, as human beings, the repetitive, constant tasks of cleaning, organizing, explaining, helping... they can get a little wearing.

But when I see it not as drudgery or chores, but as a chance to mimic God in my own little kingdom, suddenly it becomes a delightful, colorful, exploding-with-creativity adventure.
 Now... excuse me as I go clean up my rather grimy "Eden."

Learning to juice his veggies.
While eating bacon.
If this isn't Eden, what is?

Enjoying the grandeur (and
dirt!) of God's creation.

Enjoying our patch of green.

Home is the perfect place to explore
Bible stories in more artistic/less
traditional ways!

Wear a basket on your head!
I'm a firm believer that home should
be a place to be ridiculous without
ridicule. At least until your high
school graduation party....

Helping the "earthly dad" figure out
a tricky plumbing adventure.