Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. Colossians 3:23
How many times have you asked a child or grandchild to make their bed and been asked, “Why, I’m only going to mess it up again tonight?” Or suggested it would be nice if said child or grandchild picked up their room and were met with, “I like it that way.” And then there’s the after-dinner admonishment to help with the cleanup, to which we hear, “I have to do my homework.”
Surely we’ve all had times, while raising our kids or enjoying visits from grandkids, when we have felt underappreciated, unnecessary, or completely ignored. As I listened to Pastor Dennis, on Sunday morning, describing his adventure with spiders in his garage and how it seemed just a short time since he’d vacuumed all the webs away, I began to ponder how many times during the course of an ordinary day we question all the things we do simply to make life more comfortable for those around us and then wonder if anyone really noticed.
You can get off the treadmill of trying to be perfect, because you cannot buy or earn God’s love or his favor, not even with a perfect performance. Joyce Meyer
Let’s face it, we strive to be as close as possible to human perfection in everything we do. We seek the acclaim of others, we bask in their compliments, and, humility aside, we may repeat those accolades just to let others know that someone noticed.
We love it when a friend tells us how sweet our daughter is and how she is always on her best behavior when she comes to visit. Or what about when the elderly neighbor says that your son is so helpful… he volunteers to take the trash out every week. We get all puffed up with pride. Something that we have said or done must have sunk into that teenage brain besides loud music and video games. We know that those crazy kids are growing into the kind of people we hoped they would be. But then we ask ourselves, “Why won’t they do it for me? Why do they make me feel like the evil taskmaster just for asking them to do a simple chore?”
We may never grasp the workings of the teenage mind, but we can surely put aside our feelings of inadequacy. If we remember that we do the things we do to please God and not other people, we are edging toward perfection in His eyes. The most mundane chores may seem meaningless in our eyes, but when accomplished in the right frame of mind, they become beautiful acts of kindness to our Father in heaven. So, go ahead, sing praises at the top of your voice while you clean the whole house, but breeze right past that teenager’s bedroom. Remember, he or she likes it that way!
You do you, (be yourself) and then watch with humble amazement as God uses your willing, obedient, ordinary life to accomplish extraordinary things in His name. Lysa Terquerst, Embraced