Motivation

Last night someone asked about something to study as our churchwide study of Hebrews 11 comes to a close during a ladies' coffee. I responded with "Judges!" I don't know why, but I am really jonesing for a bit of "Judges" after a teensy visit to the part about Gideon. Someone else popped up wondering why the Israelites just seemed to seriously not get it throughout the Old Testament. This is a reasonable question when one is reading the whole story all at once. I have noticed that I do not connect-the-dots well over thirty-odd years, so I can only imagine the challenges the Israelites faced with all those wacky spans of five minutes, forty days, forty years, four-hundred years, etc. I figure I would've been part of the mob who just did not get it. And still am.
Anywho. So I am wanting to read Judges. Because I like it. Instead today is dedicated to a bucket of soapy water and grimebusting. In preparing for weekend visitors, it has come to my attention that my children apparently need better instruction regarding hand-washing. At least this is the tale I am discovering in the mute testimony of their grubby medium-sized handprints, fingerprints, and smudges. On every surface. It started with the chair rail in the dining room. And then the blinds. And the doors. And the walls. I am sorely tempted to present the darlings with cotton gloves at the front door daily. It would save me an incredible amount of time on cleaning days since my years of telling the children to not touch the walls, glass, etc. seem to have failed... aha! My kids are no more perfect than me (or those Israelites)! I knew there was a reason for me to read Judges. It adds to the likelihood of my seriously dirty kids receiving grace rather than my irritation... and to me being less grouchy about cleaning up after the not-so-wee beasties.