Canning Crazinesss

First, I'm sorry to all of you who read through RSS. For some reason I managed to post this before I was done writing it, so as such you will have already read the unedited, work in progress version. Lovely. Well, it keeps one humble. I haven't posted much as of late, as I have been very busy canning various fruits and veg. Like mad. A week and a bit ago I got together with two friends and spent two days canning about 120 jars of salsa. We peeled about 150 pounds of tomatoes. I've also put down, peach jam, strawberry jam, peaches, pear butter and plum ketchup. Tim made me promise that if he bought me a deep freeze, I would put down some apple pies (frozen that is) after our annual apple picking, and then.... I'm DONE. I've really enjoyed the whole canning experience, and am just hoping I've processed the jars well enough that I don't kill anyone! It has been a new experience and one that I've jumped into with both feet. I have to do it again next year, otherwise I won't be able to justify the expense of all the jars I've bought.

I've been thinking hard today about my chosen vocation. When we were in school, we were given grades and eventually chose to take courses based on our skill at different disciplines in school. I tended toward the arts, english, history even geography, and stayed as far away as I could from subjects such as math, science etc. (although the one exception to that was biology, for some reason I loved it, even though my grades were not stellar. I think that was more to do with the teacher than anything else!)

When going off to University, it only makes sense that we go into subjects that we excel at, and usually what we excel at is what we enjoy. Can you imagine what a farce it would have been to have me try and become a chemist? I would have failed miserably! And I would have hated every moment of it.

So I began thinking about my chosen vocation of homemaking. I would not say that this is something that I particularly excel at. It is often a hard slog for me to keep up with housework, plan the week well, and generally keep busy. I don't particularly enjoy it. There are aspects that I like, but for the most part I don't know that this is something I love to do. it has been a sobering realization, and one I'm fully aware that I need to change. When Tim and I decided to have children there was no question that I would stay home with them. It was far too important to us. We wanted our kids to have a parent around when and as they needed us. But I didn't realize how hard it would be at times.

So much of motherhood and wifehood (I know no such word but bare with me) is servanthood, and I know much of my discontent comes from a bad attitude, (and a wrong heart) toward the service. But after numerous conversations of late with mom's who are struggling to find joy in what they do, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of what they are struggling with also stems from a feeling that they are not doing a particular area well. For example, For me, it is very hard to find joy and to be content with general up keep of our house. I think it would be easier to be joyful in doing it if it was something I naturally excelled at. For my sister-in-law, she doesn't have this issue. She loves cleaning her house, and it is always in immaculate condition. I suppose it wouldn't matter as much if I didn't care if my house was a mess all the time, but it does bother me, so it is a constant source of frustration, and I constantly feel inadequate in this area.

So, how do we solve this Biblically? God requires us to be joyful in all we do, so how do we find joy in something we don't feel we do well? To be honest, I'm not sure I have an answer beyond looking to the Lord for help. Starting each day praying for contentment and asking that He turns our frustration into joy. Trusting that He has given us the skills necessary to complete the jobs given to us for His glory and above all serving our family, thus serving Him each day, and in knowing this, this should be our joy.