"Mommy, I'm huuuuuunnnnngrreeeeeee!" the two year old whines for the sixth time in five minutes. "I'm workin' on it." mom says for the sixth time in five minutes. "Mommeeeeee! I need a drink!" the 3 year old demands. "Is please not in your vocabulary?" mom asks, trying to remain gentle, yet stern. "I'm thirsty, now please!" Apparently patience isn't in your vocabulary either, mom thinks to herself, feeling her goodwill slowly slipping away. "Hon, what's for lunch?" the husband chimes in. "Whatever you want to fix," wife snaps. Yep, goodwill is out the window, running and shrieking down the driveway hand in hand with the Proverbs 31 woman. "This is such a thankless job sometimes," you mutter. Ever been there ladies? I have. In fact, I'm thinking of buying a condo and moving there permanently. The above scenario occured in my house (gasp) on Saturday.
Sunday morning I was up with Chloe at 4:30 am. I , oddly enough, was wide awake and couldn't go back to sleep, which is not normal for me. So, I did something that I don't do enough of to my shame... I read (really read) my bible. In typical God fashion, he called to my remembrance the above mentioned occurance and specifically to the words I muttered. "This is such a thankless job sometimes." Now, why would he do that? Well, the old wheels got to crankin' (thanks to a big mug of French Roast coffee)and I wondered, "Does God feel that way sometimes?" I mean, it seems like all I do all day is clean up messes, and no one says thank-you, they just make more messes. You know, our relationship with the Lord is like that, except he's the one cleaning up the messes we make when we take the reigns of our own life as if to say,"Lord, I got this one. Why don't you take a break." Inevitably , when we rely on ourselves and not God, we make messes. Then we're praying "Lord, you have to fix this." Most of the time he does and yet, we don't thank him , we don't live a thankful life. We just turn right around and make another mess. I guess the Lord has a thankless job too, sometimes.
In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus met 10 men who were lepers. He healed them all but only one came back to thank him. Here were 10 men who were outcasts, their lives were bleak and dismal, hopeless. And Jesus changed that, yet only one came back. Jesus rescued me out of "the miry clay and set my feet on a rock". May I always be like the one leper who gave glory to God for the change made in his life.
You are so preachin' to the choir, sister!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! It makes me want to sit back and take a good look at my life. A friend mentioned this, at the end of the day would you want to be your child or husband and have seen the face or actions that you did that day? I know that kind of veers off the subject a little, but I think that is something that really hits home with me.
ReplyDeleteJessica, I had never thought of it that way before, but you've it the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteVery true.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder.
I too have been woken up early, not able to sleep so I've either read my Bible or prayed - like you not what I do near often enough - and been taught a valuable lesson.