More Than Just A Job...

Being pushed around the house in a laundry basket train is on of our their favorite activities.

Being a stay-at-home mom has its fair share of perks and challenges. The greatest perk is job security. No one else wants to do what I do in my house, so if the laundry doesn't get touched for, oh, say, a week, I'm not going to get fired or written up. Life will move on, and I'll get to it when I get to it.

On the other hand, if I don't ever do the laundry, it REALLY won't get done. There is no delegating most of my responsibilities. There is no on call backup system in place for when I get sick or need a personal day. Perhaps when the kids get older, they can pick up some chores, but for right now, this is mostly a one woman show.

Allow me to stop the train right here for a moment to clarify that, yes, my husband also lives here, and yes, he could do a little more, but I, personally, don't ask that of him...often. He holds down jobs (plural) outside of our home, and works very hard all day long, just like me. When he has time off, I don't usually do anymore than is absolutely necessary so that we can spend that time together, and we wouldn't be able to spend that time together if he had to walk in the door and start yet another task. Yes, we may have to sometimes clear away a space on the couch to snuggle for the evening, and by the end of a weekend off we look like we're living in an episode of hoarders, but this is our home. Not a to-do list. We do a really good job of living in it. Anyone who doesn't like that...Tough. Noogies.

Back on track...

So yeah, I get crabby. I get resentful and negligent of my responsibilities when it feels like I'm up to my neck in dirty dishes, and demands for snack time and bath time and playtime, and the plumber needs to be called again, and the car is due for an oil change, and and and...

I have the right to be crabby, right? Right?

Well, no, actually. I don't. It doesn't mean that it won't happen anyway, but it's not my right to let my emotions rule my day.

A few days ago, the Lord brought this verse to my attention...again:

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." -Colossians 3:23-24 NIV

I've read it a million times. I know this one. Got it. Moving on.

(Oh, how God must roll His eyes and sigh at me when I treat His Word in this way. Much the same way that I roll my eyes at my kids when they insist they know how to do something that I know they have not yet mastered.)

Tuckered out after a day at Dollywood.

As I was putting my son down for his nap this afternoon, he asked me to sit and sing to him before leaving the room. Sounds like a sweet little request, right? Well, I know better than that. What started out a few weeks ago as a sweet little request has become another way to delay the inevitable commencement of the afternoon nap. Sneaky little monkey.

I was feeling generous (not to mention that he's just so darn cute, sneaky monkey or not), so I sat down in the rocking chair beside his crib, and promised him one song. As I was choosing the most soothing song from our sleepy time repertoire, Colossians 3:23-24 came roaring into my mind.

God was telling me in the way that only He can, 

"Sing to him like it is the a job that I gave you to do...because in this moment, it is the job that I am giving you to do. And, please, do this for your son as though you care what I think."

That stung a bit, but in the very sweetest way.

I sang to him.

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus...

And when I sang to him, I felt joy that He notices, and that He cares. I felt joy knowing that I am not just doing a job that no one else wants to do, but I am doing the thing that He made me to do in this season of life. No one can do this the way that I can. If I'm really honest, this was the first time that I can remember truly being humbled that God would choose me to mother my two little turtles over anyone else in the world. 

Wow.

It's so easy to fall into self-pity when no one seems to see or notice what you do, day in and day out. But the truth is that God sees, and He wants to reward us for a job well done. For me, it is so much easier to find joy in the seemingly mundane when I know that it puts a smile upon my Daddy's face.

I don't ever want to forget this sweet correction from my Heavenly Father, but I no doubt will. Perhaps it will be the day that my little feller stuffs the toilet full of toilet paper...again.

Or when he tears apart my brand new bag of potting soil all over the deck.

Or when my little lady gets into my craft supplies and makes an irreparable mess of my yarn because she just wanted one little piece for her craft project. 

Or when she pushes a snowball into her brother's face just as I snap the picture.

It takes daily reminding that in raising, serving and investing in my children, these little treasures that He has given me stewardship over, it is for Him. He has wonderful plans and purposes for their lives, and He wants ME, of all people, to be the first on the ground to help prepare them for all that He has for them. The reality of that is enough to bring a person to their knees, as it well should.