Holy Housewives-Week Three-My thoughts on Chapter 2, Get ready for Chapter 3.

Welcome back to Holy Housewives. We are glad you are here. Join Multitasking Mama and I as we work together to improve ourselves as women at home, striving to be the Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 women that God and are family’s deserves.

If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy,

complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.

Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,

each looking out not for his own interests, but (also) everyone for those of others.

Philippians 2:1-4

We are born with a selfish heart. As mother’s, we must lay it aside. We must also teach our children from a young age to set it aside. We want this, and that. When in reality we need few things. Go, shelter, food and water. We don’t want to work for our needs.

There are days I don’t want to make meals, wash clothes, or straighten the house. I don’t want to be disciplining my children. However, notice I said I don’t want—but I do NEED to do these things EVERY day. We must learn to know when our desires are a need or a want. Sometimes there is a fine line.

Do I want a new printer or do I need a new printer?

My old printer works, but uses a lot of ink that is very expensive to replace. My old printer does have some problems—jams on a very regular basis ( at least two to three times per printing session). I use my printer a lot for our homeschool, household needs, and for our farm. I go through around $65 worth of ink in about 2-3 months. It is very time consuming to print on both sides of the paper. It does not do wireless printing. It prints 10 pages per minute.

A new printer would be around $160-$200. The ink would be around $20 every three to four months. It would automatically print on both sides of the paper and can be either wired or wireless. It would most likely not jam as much. According to reviews, it prints 34 pages per minute. So, is this a need? a want? In many ways it is a need, as the ink savings would be worth it. Time savings would be good. A want—wireless, and easier two sided printing.

The same can be said about serving ourselves. There are days I want to go grocery shopping by myself. I could do it faster, easier, and probably cheaper. However, I would be neglecting the responsibility of teaching my children how to behave in a store, how to compare prices and value for money, and how to make wise nutritional choices. God desires us to give up self to serve others, and in reality, by serving others we are serving Him. We can’t serve Him if we are purely focused on our wants. When we serve Him, we are able to put our needs and wants into perspective.

I am not one that needs “me time” much. I need to have some time in the afternoon to regroup. However, it is normally to tend to the needs of our home, business, or some other needs. During the quiet time in our afternoons, my children either nap, work on independent studies, or read books. In the last year, I have gone out with a friend for me time once. I have gone to our homeschool mom’s meeting and chat four times. Otherwise, for the most part, I am with my children and enjoy serving them and my husband.

I know lots of women who serve outside of the home. However, I see their family’s suffering. We must remember that when we serve, we must be serving where God wants and desires us to. I see their serving outside of the home, as a disguise for “me time”. If I serve for this function or that, it is ok, because I am serving. As a bonus, I get some “me time”. In fact these women have even say that. That is selfish serving. They are actually serving self, but have used a cover to make it appear differently.

So, where are you in serving? Are you serving where God has planted you? or Are you serving where you want to be?

For this week, read chapter three. Post your thoughts from chapter two now, and link them up below, on the forum, and /or on the Facebook page. Remember, you can participate through several avenues.