When I read 2 Corinthians 9: 6-8, it has different meaning than it used to when I was in my teens and 20's. I had so much time to myself that I was bored, looking for things to do most of the time. Now that I have a family, my time is not my own and there is not a whole lot to go around. I used to hear adults say that there were just not enough hours in the day and think, man if the day was any longer, I would die of boredom. I totally get it now. So when I read the passage above, I can see that it is not just money that Paul is talking about, it is time as well. Really, I think it could apply to anything valuable to us.
My time is mostly used to be a mom and wife and that is what it is supposed to consist of. Sometimes, I try to squeeze in more me time and quickly discover that in this season of my life, that's just not going to work.
I learned something from my 3-year-old yesterday. I love it when my kids teach me things. My daughter Mya is going through a nice phase we call mommy's good helper. She will randomly ask me throughout the day, "Can I be your good helper?" and I will give her a little job to do. She will do as many jobs as I give her until I run out of things for her to do. It has its limitations because she is only 3 and there are only so many things a 3 year old can do by herself. But she loves the feeling of pride as she completes a task that I've given her.
Yesterday, I was cleaning my room. I have a system where I separate things into piles then handle the piles one by one. Clothes, shoes, kid stuff etc. There are always a ton of toys and clothes from the kids rooms in our room. So it was a pretty big pile. Mya asked if she could be my helper so I told her she could take all of the kids' stuff into the kids' room. She looked at the pile and asked, "That one right there?" I nodded. "Okay!" she said with enthusiasm. It took her about 20 trips but she managed to get the job done.
I wasn't surprised that she was so willing to do the job and persistently worked at it to get it done. But it did make me think about my attitude toward my daily jobs. My sinful nature always finds its way in and I think to myself, ugh, I have so much to do. There is no way one person can get all of this done in one day. And it's just coming back tomorrow. I don't even know if anyone notices everything I do around here. There are so many more fun things I could be doing right now. That is not the attitude I should have. God has given me a job to do and instead of complaining to myself and being less than happy about it, I should say just as Mya did, "This pile? Okay!"
By keeping the house up, doing the dishes and laundry, feeding the kids, dogs and fish, watering the plants etc., I am creating an environment for my family. And my attitude is setting the mood. I am their example. If I can't do my job willingly, how do I expect them to be willing to do something I've asked of them? It's easy to slip back into that overwhelmed feeling but if I can practice having a cheerful attitude, it will get better in time.
Next job... the office! Those piles? Okay! God loves a cheerful giver :-)
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