The Socks Box

The Socks Box


If there is one thing that makes me feel inadequate as a housewife it is our socks box. Or rather boxes, we have two of the things: an old Sainsburys shopping basket and a bright orange B&Q bucket. Both are full to overflowing. They sit, reproachfully, in the corner of our room. Every morning there is a scrabble for socks that might remotely match, if you don’t look too closely. William has taken to wearing noticeably odd socks. At first, it was out of desperation and now, well I think it is a kind of personal statement. Trouble is this actually makes the sock situation worse….. Lost partners lay sad and lonely in the basket waiting for their mate to turn up.

Occasionally, either Ross or myself will bring the boxes down in to the lounge and attempt to pair the seemingly hundreds of grayish, blackish socks that 4 boys and an adult male seem to need. Of course the problem is worsening now that Ross and the older boys all wear the same size socks, and then of course I have had a black sock phase myself….

We sort them into similar shades of grey and similar sizes, then we start pairing them up and after what seems like hours of work we have found perhaps 20 pairs of matching socks and still have literally heaps of unmatched ones left. So then the disheartened pairer leaves the sock boxes in the middle of the lounge floor for several days where it sneers at my abilities as a housewife until I can’t bear the sight of it anymore and take it upstairs to lurk in the corner of the bedroom once again, in the hope that one day these socks will miraculously find their mate and leap into the boys drawers by themselves.

The thing is, I get the boys new socks at the start of each school year as a matter of course and within two or three weeks we are in the same situation or in fact worse off. Now there are extra socks to add to the unmatched ones lurking in the baskets. Ross has suggested that we should throw them all away and start again but I CANNOT ADMIT DEFEAT!! I am loath to throw them away, what if it’s partner turns up in the next wash? What if they are all stowed away under Jack’s duvet and William’s bed and Tim’s and Jem’s might be in the garden. It’s been known to happen. A lot of the time I do actually get two matched socks that go in to the washing machine AT THE SAME TIME, why don’t they both come back to me?

I’ve tried all sorts of things to make the sorting easier, black socks with coloured toes for one boy, grey ones with stripy tops for another, plain grey for another, plain black for the fourth boy. It doesn’t help, especially when I catch Jack wandering around in one of his own white sports socks and one of Timothy’s grey school socks which he has stretched out of all recognition because he has feet like skis and Tim has still got tiny pudgy baby feet.

So I have almost given up. And now, every morning the bigger boys come barging into my room, dripping from the shower and start rummaging around for socks. We then proceed to have the same conversation every day.

Me: What are you doing in here?

Boy: Looking for socks

Me: Oh (feeling guilt-ridden and a failure as a mother and housewife)

Short pause with lots of socks being flung on floor, then boy triumphantly wriggles toes into odd socks

Me: Oh for goodness sake try to find a pair that actually match.

Boy: There aren’t any.

Me: (despairing) There must be...

Boy: (Exasperated) Mum, I am going to be late. (exits)

I bend down and start to reload the socks back into the sock box.



Once the older boys have left for school, the little ones have a good splash about in their bath and I lay out their clothes. I get out their trousers, their shirts, their school jumpers, their boxes/pants and then I get that sinking feeling…..I need to go and find them some socks!

***
You know, I may not get it right in the socks department, they may go out with feet covered in mis-matched hosery but I am praying that they leave our house covered in prayer.  And, ultimately, I know that is far more important for my children's eternal future than their socks.  As we are directed in Proverbs, it is so important that as our children grow up we "teach them the way to go, so that they will not depart from it"   It is my hope that although I can't teach my children to put on a matched pair of socks, I can teach them that they should plant their feet on the Rock of Jesus, they should walk in His ways and look to Him everyday of their lives.  I keep reminding myself that if I and my husband are praying for them, then who is.  It is our responsibility as parents to pray for our children.  Being the mother of 4 boys certainly gives me ample opportunity to pray! 

At the moment, I am using a new way of praying for them.  I have a great phone, with a calendar on it, so everyday at exactly the same time a little reminder goes off - "pray for the boys."  It is a very useful tool, because let's be honest, we often forget our intention to pray about something on a regular basis.  So, where ever I am, whatever I am doing, I can shoot off a prayer for them.  It doesn't matter if I am out for coffee, in the car, doing the housework or running with the dogs in the woods!  Some days, it is long sustained prayer others it is just an arrow prayer.  Some days, the prayer is driven by current events; sometimes, I pray about their futures, their walk with God, their relationships.  It depends what God puts on my heart.  The thing is it is a great way for me to be disciplined in praying for my boys and I am covering them in prayer on a daily basis.  Right now, it is working for me and that is what matters. 

So this is something I have prayed in the past and something I may pray again in the future, maybe on one of rare occasions I get around to pairing socks:

Father God,

May the feet that go into those socks be planted firmly on the Rock of Christ everyday.  May your word be a lamp to my children’s feet and a light for their path. Please, Father God, don’t let them stray. Be their guide, their Saviour. I pray that they have the ‘boots of readiness’. Ready to do Your will in their lives, ready to go where you lead them, ready to show hearts of compassion and the love of Christ with every step that they take. That they would walk with you every day and be the men You made them to be using the talents and gifts You gave according to Your plan and purpose for their lives.  Amen