A Desperate Housewife

by - May 16, 2011

I read this over at Chatting at the Sky last week. It keeps rattling around my head, and I just can't seem to shake it.

And I've tried because it's a grating distraction with all there is to do.  Let's see.  There's nine hours devoted to work, door to door, and that's only the beginning.  After that, there's still the need to:

  • read the bible through the year,
  • work out for an hour,
  • put a tasty yet healthy homemade dinner on the table,
  • the one that's not strewn with computers and mice and sermon notes,
  • maintain a spotless and exquisitely decorated home,
  • regardless of the fact that I have teenagers who undo my work with their every move,
  • not neglect my nightly regimen to defy the aging process,
  • (because, honestly, what would happen if we actually looked our age?)
  • and rear children who are beautiful, accomplished, talented, obedient, and straight A students.

Are you tired yet?

Our precious church girls pictured with parental permission.

I think I Need A Silent Night even though it's only May, because I've run out of daylight and I still haven't paid the bills, done our family devotion, or planted spring flowers by the front door yet.  And pray?  Well, that requires closing one's eyes, and you know what happens when I do that.  I haven't gotten past "Dear Lord, thank you for your...zzzzzzz..." since Saturday.

I'm not sure what to do about all this.  How does one stop keeping up with the Joneses, and who are they anyway?  Could they really be me and my own expectation of perfection?

Darn it, I think I've stumbled across my invalid search for approval again.

But I'm manicured, tweezed, colored and wearing amazing shoes, so who could notice that I'm really falling behind faster than you can reapply your lipstick?


You know what a train wreck is? It's neat little coupled compartments organized in a tidy row barreling through so fast, the whole thing flies off track.

Have you ever been derailed?   How do you get back on track?

I'm sharing this at Michelle's and Jen's and will be exploring this theme as the week unfolds. Join me, won't you?

: : :

To read the whole series:
A Desperate Housewife
Battle Cry
Marching Orders
What's Better

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11 comments

  1. Oh girly...have I ever been derailed....ummmm...yes!!!...all the time! I don't really know how I get back on other than when I finally fall hard enough to blindly submit to the Savior and He places me back where I belong, LOL! Sometimes it just seems as if more hours in the day are needed, but if we had them, i think we might use them to do more of the busyness and less of the praying...so...I will pray throughout the day, and then if at night, the zzzzz's come, well that's okay too!

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  2. Oh so true! Easy to be de-railed. So, our lives should be about the living the life of surrender, right? So, that the tweezed(waxed in my case),manicure and amazing shoes are the blessing in response - not the means! So. . .swimming upstream with you. Time for Cuban coffee and a chat. Thank you for seeing. . . I love you with all my heart!

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  3. I derailed a few weeks, when I realized that I was so busy and drowning because in January I took on more job than God had intended. And, as such, I have quit my job, effective July 31. Oh, goodness, I've tried to be superwoman, to work and clean and be there for my friends and family, while at the same time keeping my relationship with God steady and sure. But the thing is, I cannot. Because my superwoman desires are fueled by pride, which naturally pulls me away from my Savior. So, I'm laying down things in my life to make more room for the things He wants me to do. It's hard, but good.

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  4. Oh my ...you are living my life ...and when you figure it out please post the solution! I can't seem to get past my three main rooms to all the other stuff in my life in a day! I have found some hope in Sarah Mae's "31 Days to Clean" ebook ....subtitled "Having a Martha House the Mary Way." The Six List was especially helpful. "Every night before bed you write down the top six things, in order, that you need to accomplish the next day (no more than six). Then, go systematically through the list, completing the task in order, cross out each thing as you go." I will give it a try ...I can see how it works for the business exec ...home exec... I'm not so sure!
    You can learn more at www.31daystoclean.com

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  5. I think this resonates with most american women because I'm sure if we could study women in slower paced countries where they don't live in excess etc etc that we might see a very different picture..I'm with ya here. I am on my own journey in finding a way to be alongside in someway but not in or driven by it...I will let you know as soon as I find 'my' answer...lol! so good!!
    xo

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  6. Oh yes, the keeping up with the jones is most likely keepin up with ourselves. I set unrealistic standards and wonder why I can't meet them. I'm working on changing them...bit by bit...when I really want to chuck them all and start over. Ha. Would that really work?

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  7. Oh my word, Dawn. I AM exhausted reading this...I might have to close my eyes to recover (but you know what will happen if I do that!). Seriously though, it's crazy, isn't it, what we do to ourselves? And to what end?

    I am intrigued by this series...I will be back.

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  8. Dawn- I do love the description of a train wreck! I have never looked at it that way. A friend just had on FB a quote from Oscar Wilde- Just be yourself, everyone else is taken. I love that, because I spend so much time trying to be like everyone else who I think has it all toghether, that I forget to me.

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  9. I always add to a list like you have here . . . AND floss your teeth everynight. For some reason that strikes me as funny and gives me a little perpective. It is good for me to not take myself and my crazy list so seriously.

    Fondly,
    Glenda

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  10. This is a great definition of derailed. I used to be derailed on a regular basis. Then I prayed God has diverted me for a while, but I still find myself running a little fast. But my tolerance for it has dropped.

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  11. Seems like life, especially life with young people, ends up feeling like one big derailment. And then you realize that was it all along--it was a big jumbly mess that I was supposed to weave through and sit in the midst of and struggle through and laugh about.

    Thanks for the post.

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