Candidates and a Good Cleaning – The Pennington Point

Fall weekends are the B-E-S-T! Especially since I do so much travelling this time of year. Every minute at home is like a blast of fresh air.

I spent Friday recovering from my long journey to Alabama and beyond. I feel like I drove the length of the world all by myself. It was lovely. I like alone time. I used that time to catch up on some courses I am taking (listening to the lessons at least) and I listened to a couple of audiobooks when my brain went to mush from learning.

This old mind ain’t what it used to be.

I just adore a good audiobook and they’re so hard to find. You can never tell if the narrator is going to be good (I just can’t stick with a bad narrator) or if the story is something that will make you better. That’s my requirement….that a story improves my life in some way. I want it to help me be stronger, wiser, gentler, humbler (is that a word?), something that is worth spending 9-13 hours of my life on.

And one of the books I listened to was so, so good I just HAD to tell you about it. But before I do, I want to warn you that there is some swearing in it. It’s not a lot, but if that’s a deal breaker for you then skip it. That being said, it was so sweet and filled with great characters. It’s a light, simple story. Not deep or action packed. It’s character based and that’s my thang. I love, love a well developed character. The book is called, “A Man Called Ove.” (pronounced Ooo-vuh) I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a sweet, feel good read.

While I loved every second of my listening time and Beauty School and visiting with my amazing friends, home is where the heart is. And my heart was sooo happy to be back with my family. As soon as I walked in the door I just wanted to hug people for an hour.

And what’s a teenage boy’s favorite thing? Yep….extended hugs from Mom.

Once I got unpacked and caught up with the home front, it was time to start scrubbing. Nothing says, “Mom’s HOME!” like a day of house cleaning. On Saturday morning I made a long list….like the one Santa makes on a big scroll and releases with drama in front of the elves. Bathrooms, behind the appliances, pantry shelves, under the beds….I meant business.

After we divided up the jobs, we went to work. I may have heard one of the boys singing a song from Cinderella while he was sweeping out the fireplace. These people have a flair for the dramatic.

After a few hours the house was clean and we rested. There’s really nothing like knowing the floor is spotless under the refrigerator to make one feel like taking a long nap. It gives you that all-is-well-with-the-world feeling. I slept like a baby. Only not one of my babies because they never slept very well. I slept more like a new mom whose husband has taken the baby in another room for the night.

Sunday we went to church and the sermon was so good….very convicting. I love those kinds of sermons, that dig deep into my heart and shine a light on some ugly stuff I keep hidden. This week’s topic was humility and all I can say is, “ouch”. I came home with some stuff stirring around in my mind and decided to take a walk and let it all settle in.

God’s been doing some sweet things through the difficulty of the past couple of years and I can feel some of the ice around my heart melting away. A good, hard hitting, Biblical message always helps. I know He loves me too much to let me stay stagnate in my mess for too long.

That led to some good talks in the evening about humility and forgiveness and being Christ-focused. Between that and the clean house, I felt prepared for the week ahead.

My boys and I got back to school Monday morning and the lesson in our government class was about what makes a good leader. Since they’ve been watching the debates, this led to some interesting conversations. “Mom, why don’t our 2 candidates seem to care about this?” and “How has America gotten so far away from these principles?”

I didn’t have good answers for their questions. Sin. Greed. Selfishness. It’s a tough one to put your finger on. But I was able to share about how we are never in control anyway. We just do the best we know how then we leave the rest in God’s hands. These candidates may not be what we used to think of as good leaders, but God knows what He is doing.

This is one of the hard lessons I’ve been learning, to trust God no matter what the circumstances are. Everywhere I turn there it is again….God says to lay it all down. It’s not about me. Or what I can do. Or my own strength. It’s about trusting Him and letting go.

So there. Your deep thought for the week. My brain is worn out from all this thinking and now I need another one of those Daddy-takes-over kind of naps.