Having to and Wanting to

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might...- Ecclesiastes 9.10

I'm going to be honest.  When I see the dirty dishes crawling out of the kitchen sink and invading the counter tops, I just turn away and walk out of the room.  I straighten the pillows on the couch, organize some toy bins, rotate a load of laundry, check my Facebook, and make grocery lists.  When I'm thirsty and can't find my glass of water, I force myself to start the cleanup process.  Ugh.  I don't WANT to do the dishes!

Sure, I feel accomplished after the task is done, but I struggle almost daily with developing a heart to serve my family.  Am I alone here?  It's not that I don't love them.  It's the mundane rituals of making messes and cleaning up after them that I avoid like the plague.  I would much rather read stories than have to wash another sippy cup.  Coloring pictures with my kids is much more fun than sweeping up the crumbs on the floor. 

I  HAVE to do the majority of the housekeeping, because five people live here and only two are grownups.  Only one of those adults is at home all day, and the three small humans don't help as much as they should.  Every room turns into a catastrophe when a family of five lives, eats, and plays here! Again, anyone else feel me?


It looks like someone (ME) is going to have to put her big girl rubber gloves on and sing a little working song, because it's never good to expect another person to do the job that's sitting right in front of you- literally...on the kitchen counter.  Bad things can happen.  Bad smells happen.  Small animals may think the place has been deserted and start making themselves at home. Yikes.

So since I can't avoid the dirty dishes any longer, how can I change my HAVE-TO attitude to a WANT-TO perspective?

I was reminded the other day that we all have a "calling."  That's a churchy word for a heart-felt passion; a reason for doing something, even when it's not always fun.  Or, as Webster defines it, "a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of divine influence ."

Being a stay-at-home mom is a calling.  As with any job, there's going to be blah tasks that are purely necessary to our end-goal.  To push through the parts of this role that I don't like (the dishes, to be exact), I may have to recite,

Do your best.  Work from the heart for your real Master, for God. -Colossians 3.23

We're not working for our family, but for God, who calls us to serve one another.

So, Dani,
It's time to get those hands soapy and wash those dishes with HEART! 
Remember, this is your calling.  You didn't have to.  You WANTED to :-)

What do you HAVE to do that you don't always enjoy?

Can you see how it contributes to the big picture?