A couple of days ago a familiar phrase ran through my head: "Why does my husband get to go play while I have to stay here and watch the kids and clean the house?" This lead to other thoughts like: "Why do I never get to relax and play? It's not right that he gets down time and I don't."
Why did I let myself get grumpy and grumbly? The more I settled in to those grumpy thoughts, the more un-Christ-like I became. I allowed negative thoughts to put a wedge between my husband and me. I wasn't happier - and I'm certain God wasn't very happy with me. I could type here about the role of Christians as servants of others - an important topic, to be sure. But instead, I want to focus on how our thoughts make us who we are. We can either choose to think grumbly, discontented, jealous, "I-deserve-better," dark thoughts OR we can choose to "be joyful always." (1 Thes. 5:16). We cannot think both ways simultaneously.
Since we are to "be content in any and every situation," (Phil. 4:12), we know we aren't obeying God when we allow our thoughts to stray from joy and contentment. Who then are we serving?
"...as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." Who will you be?
"...as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." Who will you be?
Good thoughts. :) Thanks for the encouragement!
ReplyDeleteWhenever I get caught in negative woe-is-me thoughts, I remind myself why I do what I do. I don't clean my house because I *enjoy* doing dishes or mopping floors; I do it because I love the end result: a happy husband, a peaceful home, a welcoming place for friends and family who need a haven. I don't stay home with my children because I don't like working or because I can't get a good job outside the home. I stay with them because I am convinced that my children need me now, that they need godly training at home and that God has charged me with this immense (and very difficult!) task.
When I remember WHY I do what I do and what the end results are (or may be), it's easier to fulfill my role with joy.
While I long to be the woman described in Proverbs 31, it has been my latest concern to portray the young woman described in Titus 2:5, "To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."
ReplyDeleteI rarely see my husband. He heads to work while it is still dark and arrives home long after dark. Most of our conversations happen briefly over the phone. He's tired when he comes in (me too,) but for him, this is a haven, a place to rest. I'm the one who can supply him with such comfort by being a keeper of home.
If you can kiss your husband in the mornings before he heads off to work and greet him with a kiss when he arrives home, then you are truly blessed and should be very proud to *serve* this wonderful man God has blessed you with, in the home he has provided for you.