Working for Whom?

We’re going to a wedding this afternoon.  It’s a beautiful day for it, but aren’t they all?  The first really chilly day of this fall, this one started out gray and rainy but now the sun is shining and the wind is blowing flocks of birds back and forth in the sky.

I always try to make sure that things are really good between Steve and me on the day of a wedding.  They usually are anyway, but I never want to hear the vows again and the message and have even one particle of my being that doesn’t say, “I agree with this!  I would marry this man again right this minute.”

So today, when he showed up with a bag of shrimp and plopped it into my newly scrubbed and polished sink, I smiled on the outside and struggled with a smile on the inside.  And when he offered me some shrimp scampi, I tried to ignore that he’d be cooking it on the cooktop I just scrubbed and concentrated on the sweet gesture.

It’s a struggle picking up and cleaning up after our spouses and little ones sometimes, isn’t it?  And I often grumble, “Yeah, I know.  I’m submitting.  I’m a servant.  I’m being cheerful.  Right.” while huffing and puffing and frowning on the outside. 

But here’s the beauty of that.  I’m not really serving my family!  I’m serving God.  And somehow, I don’t mind doing pretty much anything for Him.  So when I carry yet one more load of dirty clothes to the laundry room, I try to remember to tell myself, “Give thanks!  God’s given you another opportunity to serve.”  Puts sock balls on a whole new level!

Ephesians 6:7
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.