Friday is usually my day off from work. I try to spend a portion of the day resting. But if I'm truthful, I usually spend the day on chores and errands.
Today, I deep cleaned my bathrooms and kitchen. Hoooo boy did they need it. This season of our lives is tremendously busy so my weekly chore list often gets pushed to my day off. I used to grumble about using my day off for chores and for errands.
Cue whiny voice: But it's MY day off, I should be RESTING, I have to do EVERYTHING. Wahh, wahh, wahh.
Gag. I've just annoyed myself.
But lately, and since starting full-time work, I've had a change of mentality, nay, a change of heart. Instead of grumbling, I am eager. I get to serve my family, yay!
Stay with me here.
I run errands, because my children need to eat. I wash the sheets, because my husband needs to rest his head on clean linen. I scrub. I clean. I vacuum. All because, I love the people whom I serve. My family. My husband serves me, I serve him, and we serve our children.
It's that simple. And often times I need that reminder.
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is famously quoted saying,
"Wash the plate not because it is dirty nor because you are told to wash it, but because you love the person who will use it next."
Re-centering my motivation gives me peace in this service.
And what if we approached everything with this mindset? Using love as our motivation -- not obligation, not coercion, not spite -- but love.
Talk about radical love.
