My Fridge is Bare, But on the Plus Side....(Turning Your Lack into Blessing)

The laundry doesn't seem to stop.
On most days I lament this, but today I truly thought it may never end. I may never catch back up.
A friend, recovering from last week's shocking reveal that she had head lice, was nearly in tears today because she, like me, doesn't feel like she can catch up.
Every day there is so much to do.
Throw in lice -or two weeks worth of guests- and the daily struggle can feel overwhelming!
#thestruggleisreal

Last week my in-laws came to stay with us. For seven days, we woke, ate, and fellowshiped with them. It was a great week. Prior to their arrival, some dear friends from Kentucky (a.k.a. the land of milk and honey), spent a week with us (albeit a few days of beach get-away in between).

In the weeks leading up to these, my family came for a week-long visit and later, Demitri got diagnosed with Hand and Foot and we spent a sheltered week avoiding people and schedules- much like vampires. Oh yeah, we also spent a few cold and rainy days away in Colonial Williamsburg with some much beloved college friends and our combined eight (biological) kiddos in tow. They have two fostered children as well, but neither could make the trip.
Good times, no doubt.

So what about when everyone returns home and you have a mountain of laundry consuming your brain space?
I guess that is when you clean your fridge...because that is what I did.

Let me back up.

                                                                        vintage fridge


While our friends and families were visiting, I kept telling myself to get on the ball and clean out my fridge (that is, purge the leftovers and actually clean the shelves with soap and water- cleaning the fridge to the second power or whatever). I had hoped to complete this before my family arrived, then again before KY arrived, and in this past week, I darn near demanded myself to do it before my in-laws arrived.
But it was left undone.
Until two days ago.
Thank the Lord for two days ago.

For some reason, even though I wanted to badly to impress every onlooker into the wonder that is my fridge, I couldn't (read: didn't) force myself to do it.
But now it is done.
It is as though I had to do it for me.
Just me.

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My friend Jennifer says that she loves being a good steward of her finances and food. She says that a bare pantry is ridiculously exciting to her. She feels like she honors God when she eats her pantry dry: canned tuna and dried beans and all. 
I admire this. I loved hearing her talk about it because she both inspired and convicted me.
Because we have two dozen cans of tuna, unloved and getting dusty, in our pantry and we simply keep adding to it.
Because we claim that we are starving and need to buy more groceries when there are enough beans and rice to feed our neighborhood.

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My refrigerator is getting bare. As in every cliche bachelor movie, we have a super-abundance of condiments and barely any real food. Other than the lonely tuna, our pantry is also running on empty.
So I suppose I have two solutions:
buy some food,
or, clean-out what we have. Like, for reals.

Can I just state the obvious here? A bare fridge is much easier to clean than a full one. Pantry as well.

So when our funds run low and getting to Food Lion and Aldi just aren't happening right now, I can actually see this as a stellar opportunity to get the dish soap and fill the sink and scrub some dried ketchup off the refrigerator shelves. Can I get an amen?
  
Something about seeing the lack makes me increasingly grateful for the plunder: before it arrives.
It reminds me of what was once there (provolone cheese and maple yogurt), and what makes McFive ridiculously giddy (graham crackers with milk), and this helps to grow the anticipation. It grows, because I know that within days we will have these great gifts from Heaven once again. And here in this moment, cleaning the fridge, I understand that scope of happily cleaning and appreciating the little now, and the celebrating and true gratitude yet to come.

God loves us and continuously fills our fridge and pantry. This time, He will be filling a clean fridge.
That, my friend, puts a smile on my face!

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-Zeplin is in Pre-K and comes home singing this swing little ditty:
   ...do you know your alphabet?...
   ...yes, I know my alphabet!...
   ...do you know your alphabet?...
   ...YES! I KNOW MY ALPHABET!

It makes me want to sing:
  ...do you clean your refrigerator?...
  ...yes, I clean my refrigerator!...
  ...do you clean your refrigerator?...
  ...YES! I CLEAN MY REFRIGERATOR!
-