Burdens or Blessings

Just an ordinary day, or was it?  It is Saturday, John and I didn’t have to work today. I had housework to do, animals to feed—two goats, a dog and a cat, and of course the many outside birds. The summer birds such as the Robins are gone and I saw today that the Junco’s are back from Canada for the winter.  It snowed today; this was early for us, even in Wisconsin.  It was very windy and the snow actually accumulated for about half an hour.  Dare I say it?  It sort of put me in the Christmas spirit as it felt like someone really shook up the snow globe when we weren’t paying attention.

I cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom; it makes me want to stay in there, as now it is officially the only clean room in the house. I’d be embarrassed if some of my clients came in on a random inspection and saw the status of my house. I did piles of laundry. Even with just John and me, we can manage to have five or six loads a week, and I have to admit most of it is mine. I managed to take the sheets off the bed without disturbing the cat too much.  Yes, I’m a good mommy.  I didn’t get into the Halloween candy that I purchased for our three little neighbor boys.  Because I can’t just take one snack size candy bar I have to take one from each of their bags. My justification is that I have to make it even so they don’t think I was playing favorites.  I baked stuffed green peppers that were given to us by a lady John works with, and they were the last of her garden vegetables. When I couldn’t find my recipe at first, I was reminded to be grateful that I have the food in the house to make almost any of the recipes I was looking through.  We will warm the green peppers up for lunch tomorrow and my mom and possibly my stepsons will be here to join us.  I’m blessed to have my mom with me who is soon to be 89 and two stepsons I love. They know they can come by any time they please. 

It’s tripping over a pair of shoes and not saying anything to John, giving him grace and then realizing they were mine anyway.  It’s having my brothers come home safely from Colorado hauling a trailer with two jeeps on it in the crazy wind and snow we had. It’s going down into my war room (two painted walls in the basement) and spending time with my Lord.  It’s carrying a hammer down with me to fend off any spiders that may have survived the last bout with pesticide spray.  After coming back upstairs John remarked that I was not down there very long.  I told him, “No, you’ve been acting a lot better lately so it didn’t take me as long. :)”

So why am I writing about this ordinary stuff?  Because that’s what real life is. It’s not always the headlines that jump off the paper of what life is about. Those things do happen and maybe add spice to our life but it is the ordinary, mundane moments that make or break you.  And it is finding joy when cleaning, cooking or clearing your lap so the cat can sit and purr while you are on your laptop.  It’s like having her claw me a few times to tell me it’s time to clip “my” nails. From being a garage cat and coming inside several years ago, she is the best behaved cat ever.  The rule was if she were to live in the house I would have to keep her nails trimmed.  The very first time I trimmed her nails she flipped her paws over back and forth to show me how nice they looked.  She’s been made for the palace and had been living in the garage. 

This is no ordinary day after all.  This is what it’s all about, this is being blessed.  But not just blessed with things and extravagant tales to tell but blessed to see Him in the ordinary.  I have always liked the saying “True integrity is when you do the right thing when no one else is looking.”  Joyce Meyer says, “Some people want to slay demons and they haven’t even taken authority over theirs sink full of dirty dishes.”  

Like my cat, we were all made for the palace and that is why our hearts yearn for a land, a kingdom in which the impossible is possible. But in the meantime as we live out our “ordinary” days, look beyond to see Him in the faces of people around you, look into the things He has given you responsibility for and see the treasure He’s hidden.  Anyone can go to the mountaintop and see the view, it would be next to impossible to miss it, but to see the flower in the valley it may take a little searching, but it is there waiting to be discovered.

A tale of two Sue’s:  

An ungrateful Sue where blessings are burdens:  I could have been frustrated to have to clean the bathroom, make supper, do laundry have the burden of needy pets, crabbing about the early snow and warm weather gone, burden of family to worry about and spiders in the basement.  

A grateful Sue where burdens are blessings:  The joy of having a peaceful home, animals to love, food to cook, warm house to be in, lots of clothes to wear, Christmas spirit, loving family.  For the record, I’m still not happy about the spiders☺ but I’m glad I have a hammer!