Read and respond to work e-mail for about an hour until oldest daughter gets up. Get breakfast for oldest daughter. Continue with work e-mail, rescheduling meetings to accommodate working from home in the morning. Younger daughter gets up. Make breakfast for younger daughter. Help older daughter start on Christmas project for her aunts and uncles. Go into office and close door. Participate in conference call with colleague from Denmark. Finish call and check on girls. Check work e-mail yet again. Make cookies and put them in the oven to bake while I pull together several documents needed for an afternoon meeting. Help daughters again with Christmas project. Participate in prep call for afternoon meeting. Put in a load of laundry.
laundry in the dryer. Finish up several loose ends for work. Finish getting ready to go out. Grab a quick sandwich. Write note to hubby with instructions for lunch and helping girls finish homework and Christmas crafts. Bundle up and venture out into the weather in order to get to the office for a 2:00 meeting. Dodge deer and ice-laden pine trees hanging into the road in order to get to
highway. Get to office only to find that I forgot to print out documents for meeting. Frantically search for printer in my manager’s office building. Meet with my manager, his manager and the CEO. Have follow up meeting with my manager. Call other stakeholders to report on results of meeting. Navigate icy roads to get back home. Sit down with computer while children are outside. Pay
bills online. Finish work on picture calendars for aunts and uncles and place online order, hoping they will get here in time for Christmas. Realize that it’s time for dinner. Start pulling together pulled pork sandwiches and baked potatoes only to find that there aren’t any burger-style buns in the house. Improvise by using hotdog buns for pork sandwiches. Eat dinner with family. Clean up kitchen and load dishwasher. Watch Christmas show with family. Put children to bed. Straighten family room. Fold laundry from earlier in the day. Lay down on the bed about 10:00 and try to watch a movie. Proceed to fall asleep with lights on and TV blaring.
I am extremely thankful that I work for a company that lets me work from home on days when the kids are out of school unexpectedly. That flexibility is so important to me! But, days like Thursday make me feel a bit schizophrenic as well. I tend to compartmentalize my life a bit in order to separate work (and the stress that sometimes comes along with it) from family. On days like Thursday, all of those lines become impossibly blurred.
I was thinking about all of this today, and it occurred to me that the Proverbs 31 woman took on all of that and more during one of her days – and she did it with such grace and dignity that her family stood up and praised her. I’ll give myself some credit for somehow managing to keep all of the balls in the air most of the time, but I have to confess that I don’t always maintain a positive attitude. Sometimes, I can get downright cranky. And, there are days when I’m pretty sure that my family would like to trade me in for another model.
I admit that like many women, I am not particularly fond of the Proverbs 31 woman. She’s a bit intimidating to say the least. But, I’m thinking that maybe it’s time to take another look at her. She was obviously a busy lady, and she still had a great attitude. I love that in verse 25 it says that she could “laugh at the days to come.”
So, I pray that I will learn how to take on the busy-ness of my days with the same strength and grace and dignity that was portrayed by the Proverbs 31 woman. And, I pray that when all is said and done, that my family will call me blessed.
“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” Proverbs 31:30-31
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