Drudgery Be Gone!

This post nags comes to me each time I (or other Christian friends) complain about hating jobs or appointments or errands. Oh, to learn to receive Grace, instead!
  
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The book, It's Incredible, told this story: Ann Kiemel went to interview a 72-year-old woman, an artist, and found her doing some landscaping in her backyard. Lifting big rocks, to be exact. The woman told her that she loved to garden and when Ann asked her what was her favorite thing in Life, the woman replied, "Manure. Because everything grows so well in it."

And then Ann asked the woman what kinds of things she disliked, as in chores such as washing dishes or vacuuming or making beds.

The elderly woman frowned. "Dislike? Whatever there is to be done--I like it!"

Oh my... I read that when I was a 20-something mother and wham! That one sentence blazed itself upon my brain for, back then, I disliked half my chores, most of my errands and all of my appointments.

Yet when I read that one page in Ann's book, I yearned to be like that artist--not just when I reached my 70's, either--but starting right away.

Be careful what you desire.

Twenty years later, that desire has taken me on one mighty long adventure. I've had to let God change my attitude about housework, errands and everything else known as 'work' or inconvenience. He's had to correct me about dreading things and complaining, both which yank me backward to mediocrity. I've had to pull every speck of Good and God from mundane tasks while seeking to enjoy this long journey called Loving Every Day. 

 Mostly, I've had to learn how to receive Grace and God's presence. And it's all been so worth it.

They say 90% of our lives is made up of Everyday Stuff, the simple (or complicated) daily, ordinary 'grind.' And well, how sad to someday reach Heaven only to admit we hated 90% of the life God gave us!
  
The other 10%? Those are the fun things: parties, vacations and days-at-the-beach type of activities or whatever else floods us with happy anticipation. The easy, don't-require-Grace to enjoy stuff. 

And now after 20 years of seeking to receive Grace for any activity not naturally delight-filled, I can almost say, like Ann's elderly woman, "Whatever there is to be done, I like it!"

Well, I'm closer than I used to be, anyway, to enjoying 100% of my days. These things take time, you know. :)

Yet I've discovered that, for me, there's no better, richer way to live than to learn to receive Grace. For everything.


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"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need"   ... Hebrews 4:16.


"So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work..." ... Ecclesiastes 3:22

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