Obedience

I washed the dishes yesterday.

This may not seem like such big news if you don't know me very well. For two years it has been our family arrangement that RJ does the dishes, because the water dries out my hands, adn I sometimes get rashes because of my excema. I do (however poorly) all of the other chores, so when we explain to our friends that RJ is responsible for dishes, no one has questioned this, even though I stay at home and RJ works full time.

The dishes are not the only problem. Because I was often sick growing up, and chemicals and dust are irritants to allergies, I was never expected to do much cleaning, besides picking up (which I am very good at). The problem is I know very little about how to do other household cleaning tasks. My mom, with my best interests at heart and in love, has encouraged RJ to take on more than his fair share of household tasks, and I have felt entitled to his doing them. When I get sick, or experience fatigue like I have with this pregnancy, I use these things as an excuse to accomplish hardly anything. And when I tell me friends that I am exhausted and only get one chore done a day, they are understanding and don't think anything is peculiar with this arrangement.

Making this home is my job. RJ works as much as 45 hours a week to provide for our family, and I do not even make a home for him to come to. I have read Proverbs 31 and Titus 2. I read A Woman After God's Own Heart. I know that doing caring for my home is what God has commanded me to do, but I always had really good excuses.

How often do we do this with one another's pet sins? We claim to be accountable to one another, but as long as we have good reasons... I can't really tell her what she should do if I don't always do what I should... Every one has hard days and we can't really expect any better...

How long will we help each other make excuses not to do what God has commanded us to?