08 Mar Serving in Weakness

As I shared a few weeks ago, my husband and I are taking a financial planning class through our church. In one of the classes, we took a quiz to see which one of us is an “ultra nerd” and which one of us is a “free spirit” when it comes to finances. Bad news: we’re both free spirits. Yikes. Unfortunately, free spirits are not exempt from budgeting or the other ten trillion responsibilities that accompany adult life. Adulting is the worst, but things have to get done.

My husband and I both hate paperwork, we’re not organizationally gifted, and we’d rather gouge our eyes out with spoons than sit down and deal with administrative tasks. We’re of the “make it so” variety, but since he is both king and stable boy and I am both queen and chambermaid in our little kingdom, the decree “make it so” is a fruitless plea.

BUT. We’re growing.

The cross-country move cleared away a lot of the dross. We broke out our label maker and organized seven years worth of paperwork we’d been shoving into cubbies in the basement. We signed up for this financial class, hammered out a budget, and we’re tracking it with an app on our phones. We’re making progress but it’s slow going.

I just counted all our online accounts and there are 36 accounts with different usernames and passwords. I mean, come on, that is ridiculous!

Recently, it’s become apparent to both of us that I need to be 100% in charge of our domestic life (OK, 98% because I’m not dealing with car stuff or choosing cell phones). I need to figure out health insurance, track our giving, pay bills, and generally manage our life. We had been in a my-husband-mostly-takes-care-of-it-but-I-nag-him-because-he-forgets-to-do-things-and-then-we-fight-about-it spiral for way too long. I’m not wild about taking over these responsibilities, but it’s what needs to happen. I need to serve my family in this way.

It’s also a bit difficult since my parents handle domestic life very differently (and we’re living with them), with my dad managing all the things that are now on my plate. Sometimes it’s hard to accept a new way of doing things when it’s different than the way you grew up, but again, we’re growing in that area too.

I wish I could say I have an incredible attitude about this new world order but it’s been a struggle. I struggle with feeling selfish and overwhelmed and mad that I’m now in charge of things I hate doing (Ok, I’m working on that too). Thankfully, our gracious Heavenly Father has given me a few verses to dwell upon when my heart wants to start keeping score.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving (Colossians 3:23-24).

But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong] (paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13:4-5).

What about you? How do manage your household? How do you and your husband balance responsibilities? Please share in the comments because I’d love to know how other families make it work. I’m always in the market for life hacks, I could certainly use some!