Looking for...
So from the title you might think that this post has some kind of funny story about me losing something and the desperate search to find, finally ending with a humorous out come, and I am sure I could come up with something clever like that (I have recently lost my safety deposit box key :( but that item has yet to be found and it is quite distressing not funny) But more to the point this post is actually about a search I didn't realize I was on and I think most of us are on this search and don't realize it. It was a search for significance.
Now you might say "this is not such a bad thing. Ashley why are you even bringing this up?"Well dear reader let me tell you.
Over the past few weeks, it being a new year and all, I have been doing some personal examination and have found myself needing to do some adjusting to my life. Nothing major but I have found as I watch my actions on a daily basis that #1 I am definitely not making learning and spending time with God much of a priority and #2 I found myself saying no to playing with my kids more often then I would say yes.
Now I love staying at home with my munchkins but as I embarked on the small personal examination I have realized that I was spending more time doing what I wanted to do and feeling interrupted and at time annoyed with their persistence for attention (Wow did I just say that?? Yes I did) This thought was then followed by the thought that my oldest is now 3 and in a mere 2 years will be going off to the world of elementary education. Yikes 2 years left to have his time all to myself and what have a done with those last 3 years? The last thing I want is to regret spending more time on Facebook and the internet rather then sitting on the floor playing lego or reading a book as I send him off to his first day of school. I really began to search my heart and my motives.
Now as the new years started I have already determined to make my kids a priority and to sometimes stop whatever I am doing and go with them to that puzzle sitting on the floor and encourage them as their little fingers learn to place the piece in the right spot. So now you might say "Yes Ashley I understand what you are saying but what does this have to do with your search for significance?" Well let me tell you. Since beginning this journey of being a stay at home mom I have found myself in many ways trying to find significance in my life, maybe start a home based business, maybe go back to school or start my Masters. Trying to find some way to make my life important, something beyond the everyday mundane cooking, cleaning and children (like the alliteration?). However, I was stopped short the other day as I was reading in "Sacred Marriage" the author was quoting another book and here is what they had to say:
"Contrary to popular opinion, woman was not created for her own fulfillment. (That goes for men too!) She was created to be a helper and nurturer. Now that is not an easy assignment to accept. We tend to bristle and think, There must be something more significant than that! What homemaker hasn't found herself asking, after the fiftieth load of laundry in a week or when facing yet another sink full of dirty dishes, "Is there anything significant about what I'm doing here?" Yet in God's eyes, nothing is more significant than servanthood. The path to genuine greatness lies in serving...Significance is found in giving your life away, not in selfishly trying to find personal happiness." - Gary and Betsy Ricucci
"Is there anything significant about what I'm doing here?" How often, without even knowing it, have I asked this question and sought for an answer within my own desires?
Yet in God's eyes, nothing is more significant than servanthood. There is nothing more significant than serving! This can be a hard idea to grasp in a world and culture that constantly screams at you that "It's all about you and what you want and what you need." There is a greatness that lies in serving that you cannot find anywhere in self serving.
I know I cannot fully explain to you how this has effected me and the challenge that it now places before me but it makes we want to reach out to my family more and to offer them a little more of me and my time. This doesn't mean I won't take time for myself to rest and enjoy the things I like but it means that when I am facing that dishwasher that needs to be emptied AGAIN! I will empty it with a servants heart, knowing I am not only showing love to my family but to God also. Or when a small hand tugs at my pants AGAIN, I will take that hand and follwand that innocent face as it looks to me for a little love and attention and I have a choice to get down on the floor and play out of love and servanthood or duty. But my family deserves to served out of love not just duty and it is here in my kitchen and my children's rooms that I can find significance by offering my life for the good of someone else. I am pretty sure this type of servanthood is what you will find if you study the life of Jesus and there are few people who would call His life insignificant.
I am positive that I am not always going to get this right but I think I would be amiss if I didn't even try. So that's all I have to say for today, a day for a challenge.
Now you might say "this is not such a bad thing. Ashley why are you even bringing this up?"Well dear reader let me tell you.
Over the past few weeks, it being a new year and all, I have been doing some personal examination and have found myself needing to do some adjusting to my life. Nothing major but I have found as I watch my actions on a daily basis that #1 I am definitely not making learning and spending time with God much of a priority and #2 I found myself saying no to playing with my kids more often then I would say yes.
Now I love staying at home with my munchkins but as I embarked on the small personal examination I have realized that I was spending more time doing what I wanted to do and feeling interrupted and at time annoyed with their persistence for attention (Wow did I just say that?? Yes I did) This thought was then followed by the thought that my oldest is now 3 and in a mere 2 years will be going off to the world of elementary education. Yikes 2 years left to have his time all to myself and what have a done with those last 3 years? The last thing I want is to regret spending more time on Facebook and the internet rather then sitting on the floor playing lego or reading a book as I send him off to his first day of school. I really began to search my heart and my motives.
Now as the new years started I have already determined to make my kids a priority and to sometimes stop whatever I am doing and go with them to that puzzle sitting on the floor and encourage them as their little fingers learn to place the piece in the right spot. So now you might say "Yes Ashley I understand what you are saying but what does this have to do with your search for significance?" Well let me tell you. Since beginning this journey of being a stay at home mom I have found myself in many ways trying to find significance in my life, maybe start a home based business, maybe go back to school or start my Masters. Trying to find some way to make my life important, something beyond the everyday mundane cooking, cleaning and children (like the alliteration?). However, I was stopped short the other day as I was reading in "Sacred Marriage" the author was quoting another book and here is what they had to say:
"Contrary to popular opinion, woman was not created for her own fulfillment. (That goes for men too!) She was created to be a helper and nurturer. Now that is not an easy assignment to accept. We tend to bristle and think, There must be something more significant than that! What homemaker hasn't found herself asking, after the fiftieth load of laundry in a week or when facing yet another sink full of dirty dishes, "Is there anything significant about what I'm doing here?" Yet in God's eyes, nothing is more significant than servanthood. The path to genuine greatness lies in serving...Significance is found in giving your life away, not in selfishly trying to find personal happiness." - Gary and Betsy Ricucci
"Is there anything significant about what I'm doing here?" How often, without even knowing it, have I asked this question and sought for an answer within my own desires?
Yet in God's eyes, nothing is more significant than servanthood. There is nothing more significant than serving! This can be a hard idea to grasp in a world and culture that constantly screams at you that "It's all about you and what you want and what you need." There is a greatness that lies in serving that you cannot find anywhere in self serving.
I know I cannot fully explain to you how this has effected me and the challenge that it now places before me but it makes we want to reach out to my family more and to offer them a little more of me and my time. This doesn't mean I won't take time for myself to rest and enjoy the things I like but it means that when I am facing that dishwasher that needs to be emptied AGAIN! I will empty it with a servants heart, knowing I am not only showing love to my family but to God also. Or when a small hand tugs at my pants AGAIN, I will take that hand and follwand that innocent face as it looks to me for a little love and attention and I have a choice to get down on the floor and play out of love and servanthood or duty. But my family deserves to served out of love not just duty and it is here in my kitchen and my children's rooms that I can find significance by offering my life for the good of someone else. I am pretty sure this type of servanthood is what you will find if you study the life of Jesus and there are few people who would call His life insignificant.
I am positive that I am not always going to get this right but I think I would be amiss if I didn't even try. So that's all I have to say for today, a day for a challenge.
There you go, making your readers cry.
ReplyDeleteWell Erica someone had to do it :) and besides at least it isn't our kids making us cry this time!
ReplyDelete