i know that when my eyes are focused on the Lord everything changes. i also know that when i do my work for the Lord, the work changes. this quote by tagore explains it all;" i slept and dreamed that life was joy, i awoke and found that life was service. i acted and found that service was joy." but to be in the service of the Lord ~ not off far away in some desert mission field (although the thought is alluring) but here, in my home, serving Him. in what He has handed me, with what He has handed me, is pure joy. yes, even the dishes and the laundry. the thing is, i didn't even have to remind myself but once, at the very beginning of the day, "not for anyone but for the Lord." it made it all so easy to do. right away too, no putting it off.
as for multitasking my multitasking, this has been a theory of mine for quite some time now; that all this multitasking on top of multitasking, really seems to only make my jobs harder, not easier. it's like playing the game of, "let's see how far i can stretch myself before i brake." except at the end of the game i get no prize, just the feeling of overwhelming, defeat.
doing one task at a time, wholeheartedly, was freeing! i was free to do the tasks well and enjoy them! although this may be partial to doing them for the Lord, whose joy is my strength. these tasks that i did, one at a time, were every task. ie: if i was doing dishes and mikey came up to talk, i stopped doing the dishes, turned to face him and listened. - task change. - flexibility, bending, morphing, from dish washing to listening, wholeheartedly.
i know the usual play out, mikey talking louder, over the dishes clinking, water running, mommy asking "what?" possibly a few times. it didn't play out that way here. he spoke, i listened with my ears, my eyes, my heart. we had a short buy sweet conversation and he was off again on his merry way.
the majority of the day went like this. usually the house is louder then i can bear and half way through we have practiced silence a lot. (yes, we practice silence in our house) this morning was so quiet we noticed the breeze blowing through the house.
while reading about abraham and isaac i noticed that mikey wasn't paying attention. i followed his gaze to the flouting drapes. my knee jerk reaction was frustration and anger. i kept reading. he kept gazing. i got quiet and watched too for a minute. "what are you looking at?" i asked.
he giggled and didn't respond.
"are you watching the wind?" i asked
he nodded and looked back up at the dancing drapes.
"where does the wind come from?" i ask.
"outside, mommy. the windows are opened."
silly me. "yes, but outside, where is the wind coming from? who tells the wind to move?" coaxing in the quiet, daughter rocking baby doll near by.
"God." he says assuredly.
"God moves the wind, the wind moves our drapes. does that mean that God is moving our drapes?" i ask.
he turns his smiling face up at mine, "God is moving our drapes."
and we sit and watch the drapes dance together in the quiet of morning.
can things like this only happen when we slow down? when we choose intentionally to give our all, in each and every moment? when each and every moment is given intentionally back to the One who gave it to us in the first place?
most of the day went this well, until the hurried rush of evening when i decided very last moment, to run to the store for a baked good. fellow vacation bible school teachers would be arriving at our house very soon, and my wanting to have a sweet treat to share brought the ugly. the mad dash brought the madness, and the scones were only eaten by me. lesson here? when i'm in a mad dash, i want to ask myself, who is this mad dash for? me or God? i really wanted to have a sweet treat to offer the ladies while we planned and laughed, but really, was it about me and what i wanted? God wasn't in the mad dash. although the thought was nice, it was far beyond unnecessary. we planned and laughed and those scones were not anything to rush around and get frusterated over. especially after seeing my fellow vbs teachers wern't interested in them.
tomorrow is a very busy day. i am going to be intentional about the same two things but also be intentionaly slow - no mad dash. note to self: this will mean that i have to make adjustmenst in my timing, especially considering i am late often and make mad dashes most of the time. tomorrow will be fun.
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