About Last Night

Everyone has their one thing. The one chore, the one task that they loathe doing more than any other. Maybe it's because you connect it with something else or maybe you are just bad at it. Mine is ironing. I HATE to iron. I'm not good at it. It's not that I don't want the wrinkles out, it just feels like there must be  an easier or better way. Quite frankly, ironing makes me grumpy.

Enter irony... I am married to a man who spends a good portion of his time in a court room. Things must be ironed. Sometimes, like last night, things must be ironed late at night because something came up for the next morning at the last minute. We got home last night from a fantastic time with friends and he quickly realized that he needed clothes ironed for the next day. I got real grumpy, real fast. Ironing was certainly not what I wanted to be doing anytime, let alone 9pm after a long day with the kids.

I'm sure some would argue that he should iron his own clothes. It's not that he can't. In fact, he is probably better at it than I am. I quickly pushed aside that thought, as I started getting out the ironing board and plugged in the iron. I want to serve my husband, just not in this way. Not in the way that it needed to be done in that moment. So there I stood, at 9pm, ironing clothes, getting grumpier by the minute. It wasn't pretty.

Sure, his clothes were getting ironed but that was sort of not the point anymore. I decided I was going to serve my husband, but I was ugly doing it. He asked for my help with a fairly small task and I was throwing a temper tantrum like he had asked me to move a truck with my pinky.

"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." (Colossians 3:23 NLT)

My task in that moment wasn't to iron my husband's clothes. Obviously the clothes were getting ironed, but the real task, the more important task, was the serve the Lord by serving my husband. Would I be grumpy if Jesus had asked me to do it? 

How often am I asked to do something I don't really want to do and I do it begrudgingly? This is not the call on my life. "Work... as though you were working for the Lord" . Everything we do, everything I do, is an offering to the Lord. My husband is watching. My kids are watching. Others around me are watching. The reaction that I have and the attitude I take in that moment matters. My joyful attitude, no matter the task, is what reflects Jesus light from my heart. It allows others to see Him in me. And that... is the ultimate goal. 

So about last night, the ironing got done... but I missed the opportunity to reflect Jesus. This morning I watched my husband put on that suit and tie. He kissed me and walked out the door. And I walked back upstairs and prayed that next time, I won't miss that opportunity.