Making the Bed
Making the Bed
Call me crazy, but I could write a whole blog - - perhaps a whole chapter of a book - - on the chapter title: “Making the Bed”. In fact, not that long ago, I saw an advertisement for a contest online through a jewelry contest.
“Win a $1,000 by making your bed every day for 30 days and journal about it”. I was all in, and I faithfully journaled about my bed-making experiences and thoughts while I was doing it. As the thirty days neared a close, I double checked the contest rules and realized with a disappointed sigh that I would miss the deadline for submission. Needless to say, the bed-making and journaling both lost a little of their allure, and I fell off the positive daily habits. I’m almost certain, though, that my entry would’ve won! So many good thoughts!
Let me share one entry with you just to give you a taste, and then I’ll get on to my point.
When our four children were young (think age 6, age 4, 15 months, and a newborn), I told my husband one day when he got home from work that there were two tell-tale simple signs how the day had gone beyond the children all fed, somewhat clothed, and relatively content:
Our bed was made.
I had taken a shower.
These indicators meant: 1) I had time to take care of something around the house (even if it was only that one simple thing) and
2) that I had taken a few moments to accomplish the Herculean task of pulling a curtain between me and the children for 3-5 minutes to take care of myself.
One foot in front of the other. One step at a time. That is a mantra for a parent with lots of young children. And you have to count your small accomplishments as worthy of celebration because that may be all you get in the small window perspective of that particular day.
My best friend’s husband died unexpectedly about 30 hours ago, leaving her with their four children to finish raising to adulthood. I think the same thing for her as I made my bed this morning: One foot in front of the other. One step at a time. I know she will have to do the same things she did when her children were little. Narrow the focus to small victories in small periods of time. Otherwise it’s too big. Too overwhelming. Too much.
The simple act of making a bed, as my mother used to tell me, “can make the whole room look better”, and I understand the truth of that now as an adult. I smooth the sheets, blankets, and quilt (that my best friend’s mother-in-law made for us, no less) as I make the bed this morning and thank God for the gift of a bed rumpled on both sides as the tears ooze out of the corners of my eyes.
The egotistical part of me is sure that you would agree with me that my journal had the potential to make the finals at least.
So, how does a task like making a bed reflect part of our souls? Perhaps one thing is the daily discipline involved. Is making your bed ingrained in you as a habit like brushing your teeth or cutting your fingernails? What about reading the Bible or having devotions? Do these two things make it onto each day’s To Do list?
Maybe it’s the quality of the work that we do - just one small example of putting ourselves to a task and doing it well. How does your bed look this morning? Maybe you just pulled everything generally toward the top of the bed, or maybe you went all out with the hospital corners on the sheets. Did you read a quick one page devotional, or did you really delve into the Holy Word and open your heart to what it had to say to you today? We need to really let Scripture penetrate our soul.
Perhaps it’s about the wearying repetitiveness of the task itself: do you find ways to make those things you have to do over and over again have meaning and significance? Or maybe you just give up on some of those things, deciding that they aren’t really that important - after all, who really is going to see your bedroom today? Do these things that don’t seem to matter get put by the wayside?
I’m certainly not judging you; my bed is not made yet this morning, and it’s now 11:36 a.m. To be honest, it might not get made today. Have I had months where I go without taking time for devotions and intentional prayer in my life? Yes, I’m ashamed to admit that those things sometimes drop out of my rhythms. And don’t you find, like I do in my own life, that you go through good patterns in life only to fall out of them again at certain times sometimes? Taking the time to be aware of your habits can make a big difference in your choices.
As you reflect on what that three word title signifies to you and the implications that it brings in your mind, just remember: “For a man’s ways are in full view of the Lord, and He examines all His paths” (Proverbs 5:21). Believe it or not, I opened my Bible just now to the book of Proverbs to search for a verse, and that’s the one that popped out immediately at me. God may not care whether or not we make our bed every day (it depends on who you ask, I’ll bet!), but He certainly wants us to come and have fellowship with Him each and every day of our lives. We will find ourselves blessed and renewed by these choices to spend time with the God of the universe.
