He
knew that there was another solid chunk of time that I spent sitting at the
computer, something that I haven’t done in weeks for any length of time.
He
thought that I had an easy day.
At
that moment, I looked at my sweet son, at his innocence in thinking that mom
had an easy day because I didn’t spend the whole of it doing the myriad of
tasks that I normally do, and I kind of wanted to throttle him.
Because
I had done a myriad of tasks, despite
feeling lousy and just wanting to crawl into bed, which he had done for the
bulk of the day. Tasks that were
invisible to him, but to me are necessary to the smooth running of this
household.
I
had done laundry, cooked, cleaned, straightened up. I had made phone calls, maintained the
calendar, shuttled our daughter to her after school activities, and made sure
everyone had their homework done. I had
done plenty, and I was a little indignant that he didn’t even NOTICE.
In
my open-mouthed, stunned silence, my husband stepped in. How can you say that? He asked our son. Your mother works harder than anyone else in
this house every single day, and she even does it when she’s sick.
Snapped
out of my bewildered state, I looked at my husband, then again at my son. I was vanquished, my reputation righted. YEAH!
IN YOUR FACE! the ugly part of me
wanted to shout.
But
I didn’t. I paused, and realized that I felt too lousy. I was still sick, and I didn’t have the
energy. Plus, I didn’t want to make my
son feel bad. He’s only a kid, after
all. He doesn’t need to know all the
details of my life. For now, it’s okay
that he thinks that because I laid on the couch for two hours today, that my
day was an easy one.
In
life, who really wants to hear about all the tasks that we complete? If we do our work only to gain recognition
from others, we will forever toil in vain.
No one cares quite like we do about the jobs we do. We will never gain the admiration from others
that our always-hungry egos desire.
God
tells us that when we work, to work only for him. When we give our work to God, whatever it is –
folding clothes, digging ditches, painting a wall – he is glorified. We can be sure that in God’s eyes, our work
will never go overlooked, as it does so often here on earth.
Even
by the sweetest of sons.
![]() |
A dairy maid can milk cows to the glory of God. –
Martin Luther
No comments:
Post a Comment