I have decided to start living on the point system. See, I find myself thinking of all the ways I am deficient. My house is a mess. My finances are far from perfect. My dog has fleas (and sleeps with me). My cats have fleas (and let me know when their litter is too dirty for their taste by making the by the sink their new litter). I oversleep, and fall asleep too early. I daydream on the way to work and suddenly realize I don't really remember the last stretch of road (only did that yesterday actually). My roof just lost several shingles, and they're still sitting in front of my house (a roofer is scheduled, but not until later in the fall/early winter). By some metrics I'm a mess. However, rather than focusing so on the failures I've decided to give credit for the little victories. How many women fail to do this, fail to give themselves credit for the hundred little accomplishments every day? How many of us wander through life trying to meet benchmarks that we or society set for ourselves, and feeling guilty when we don't? I say it's time we implement a point system. So every time I get up early enough to do my devotions, get dressed, and arrive at work on time, at 7 am (is) that's a point. There's a bonus point for actually being completely dressed before arriving at the office (this means not doing my hair or buttoning my clothes when I get there). Every time mom and I both get our teeth brushed, there's two points. It's a point for staying awake long enough to get her all ready for bed and giving her her medicine, without crashing and then waking back up. Bonus points (2) given if the entire bedtime routine is complete (clothes changed, teeth brushed, prayers said, tv programmed to go off). If the litter gets changed, that is totally worth a point. If any kind of housework is done- there's a point. This includes picking up all the garbage left on the kitchen table through the day. This also includes yard work (today I pulled weeds, as my yard could probably have put in a bid as the set of Terra Nova a year or so ago). A point goes for walking the dog. A point for updating this blog. A point for working on my novel. Two points for getting my newspaper articles in by the night before deadline. Now I probably won't actually live by this point system. Even if I did, I know that the points wouldn't really be any credit to me- it would be (and all that I do is) God's grace. (Thanks God! Praise God!). However, it does make me feel a little bit better to think about the little victories. We women do a lot. Maybe we should stop feeling so guilty for the stuff we don't.