The Greatest Job in the World

God is higher than anything and anyone,
      outshining everything you can see in the skies.
   Who can compare with God, our God,
      so majestically enthroned,
   Surveying his magnificent
      heavens and earth?
   He picks up the poor from out of the dirt,
      rescues the wretched who've been thrown out with the trash,
   Seats them among the honored guests,
      a place of honor among the brightest and best.
   He gives childless couples a family,
      gives them joy as the parents of children.
   Hallelujah! 

~ Psalm 113:4-9 ~

It all started with a simple request.

Well, it was really more like an observation that moved on to a suggestion.

It wasn't a command or an order.

Just a simple suggestion made while shaving.

In my hormone drunk brain it sounded like a judgment.

"You are not doing enough. You are a poor housekeeper, so bad that your husband has to point out things that need to be done and tell you how to make them get done."

You are failing.

Once again I dove right into that big pool of self-pity.

Of self-blame.

Of pride?

You bet.

I swam around and around in that pool even while I slept. Waking in the dark with thoughts swirling in my head.

How can I do better? How can I do more?

I know, I need to write up a schedule and make copies and hand them out to all the kids and then go over these schedules with them, giving them each special new jobs and then...

"Come to Me." (Psalm 27:8)

"Hello? Is someone talking to me?"

"Have you talked to Me about all this?"

"Ummmm, well, not for a while. Not for a long time, really."

Once again, in the quiet of the early morning living room I poured out all the poison in my head and let it flow out at the feet of my Saviour.

What a huge burden I had made out of a simple suggestion.

So much was uncovered as I laid bare my heart before my Lord.

Once again He showed me all my efforts aren't going to help. A new schedule isn't what I need. Snapping to and making the kids tow the line isn't going to bring what is needed.

God can do anything, you know—

far more than you could ever imagine or guess 

or request in your wildest dreams! 

He does it not by pushing us around 

but by working within us, 

his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

~ Ephesians 3:20 ~

What I need is Him.

I need to let Him come and work within me.

Changing the way I think. (Romans 12:2 ~ I love that verse!)

And so, I jotted down a list for the day into my prayer journal and moved forward into the morning. Waiting for His leading, but not really sure how it would come.

So, I got my breakfast going and started in a batch of buns and of course turned on the computer.

At (In)Courage, I read,

"Moms, I'm specifically talking to us today.  Do we love our job?

Gulp!

Do I love my job? I'll have to think about that one.

I like it, sometimes, but too often the "job" part is a lot of thankless, unnoticed work.

Am I supposed to love it?

Somewhere in between adding cups of flour to my bun dough I realized I was smiling.

I realized that I felt so much lighter.

And dare I say it?

I felt joy.

I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!

—on the road God called you to travel. 

I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. 

I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. 

And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—

not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other 

in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

~ Ephesians 4: 1-3 ~

So where does all this leave me?

What do I do with what the Lord is showing me this morning?

I have a calling to the greatest job in the world.

I have been called to be a wife, a mother, a homemaker.

Lately, because I have been trying to this job in my own strength, apart from my Source, I have grown to see my calling as a chore, a burden, something that was too much and not what I wanted to do, but had to do.

Something that I was failing at in so many ways.

But this morning, He reminded me that I am not supposed to do this on my own, in my own "strength".

He equips those He calls! (Ephesians 3:8)

He gives me strength and rest. He restores my soul. (Psalm 46:1, Psalm 23)

He is my source of joy. (Psalm 43:4)

He makes me soar on wings of eagles. (Isaiah 40:31)

Apart from Him I can do nothing. (John 15)

So, why do I keep trying?

Over and over, I'm sure I will have to be retaught this lesson.

Thankfully, He is patient with me and is gently leading me.

He tends his flock like a shepherd: 

He gathers the lambs in his arms  

and carries them close to his heart; 

he gently leads those that have young.

 ~ Isaiah 40:11 ~

There is so much more.

But what it comes down to is I need Him.

And He is all you need, too.