A Cleaning Challenge

Some women are really good at keeping a home, a nurturing, welcoming place of rest, where people want to be.  I'm not.  But...I am learning that keeping a home, especially with the homeschool element is vitally important.  Home has become less of a place to come to and more of a place to be.  That is why I decided to take the 31 Days to Clean Challenge.

This wonderful little e-book is absolutely fabulous!  It would be a bargain at a much higher price than it is currently.  The thing that I like the most is the way Sara Mae deals with the why of cleaning not just the how, and offers daily exercises, not just in scrubbing and picking up, but also the spiritual aspect of keeping a home.

One of the first challenges that she set was to come up with a mission or vision for homekeeping, a reason to keep on with the mundane tasks even when they are are boring.  Here is mine.

I want to create an environment of visual peace, to enable capable study and comfortable living for the whole family. 

If you would like to join the challenge check it out on the Joyful Mothering blog

Perseverance

 
Perseverance- continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition : the action or condition or an instance of persevering : steadfastness
Mirriam-Webster Dictionary
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers
I Timothy 4:16

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.

~Henry Ward Beecher

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
James 1:12

The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground. 

~Author Unknown

As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
James 5:11

Fall seven times, stand up eight. 
~Japanese Proverb

Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before. 
~Jacob A. Riis