You all know that I am a single parent. For some time I have been struggling to get my son to put more effort into things that matter and not being so lazy. This had been an EVERYDAY conversation in my house with him. For example, I’ll tell him to pick up his socks out of the middle of the floor (he HATES socks) and rather than putting them upstairs in his laundry basket, he tosses them in a corner or piles them up on the steps. He is also very opposed to being responsible for the trash. His entire body protests when the trash needs to be emptied, and it’s even worse when it’s time to take the can’s to the curb. This really makes me frustrated. One day, I remembered that I had found a series of books to address the not so pleasant behaviors that he was developing when he was younger and figuring things out like sharing (because he’s an only child) and being a bad sport (because he is a SUPER sore loser). I went back to this series because there is a book in it that focuses on laziness specifically. It’s called “God, I need to talk to you about Laziness”. The book presented a scripture that I had him repeat everyday. “Whatever you do [no matter what it is] is word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [and in dependence on Him],giving thanks to God the father through Him,” Colossians 3:17. I told him to remember that as he went about his days and in all the things that he does and maybe that would help him to care a little more and give a bit more effort; and there have been less socks left in the floor or piled on the steps…we’re still working on the attitude that comes when the trash needs to go out.

**INSERT REALITY CHECK HERE**

One day after I went on and on with him about doing just enough to get by, my mother gave me a reminder of my younger years, “Xan, time to go put the food away”…I knew FULL WELL that she meant for me to put the food away, clean up the dishes and put the trash out if necessary. I can’t even recall how many nights she woke me up for half doing what she told me to do. She also reminded me of how, even now, if I have a paper to write for school and I’ve known for weeks, I will push it to the back burner trying to get other things done because I know that no matter what, I will NOT miss a deadline. I used to pride myself on how much I could get done up against the clock, like the QUEEN of efficient procrastination, and then I realized how much of a paradox this really was, and that it was very likely that my son was picking up my own bad habits. I felt like such a hypocrite!

That’s when I decided to embark on the Focus Friday journey. I determined that the things I was doing could have been done a bit better. This past week, my focus was on being more thorough in my daily doings. This went very well for me. If I’m being completely honest, taking last week to focus on slowing things down made it a lot easier to do things more efficiently. It’s no longer a race against the clock or my calendar and I have been a lot less stressed!

Next week, PATIENCE because who doesn’t need to exercise more of that?!