I was reading another 31 dayer last night and she brought up the first to fourth verses in Mathew 6. They are all about doing your good deeds in secret. If you do them "before men" and they honour you, then you will have received your full reward--and will miss out on one from God.
I did my daily tasks today afraid that that is what I have done with my 31 days. I am afraid that by having posted my good days (and my bad days), by trumpeting my successes before you, and having received your praise and encouragement (for which I am so grateful) I have "cheated" myself out of a gift from God.
Wow. Was I having setting myself up to have a bad day, or what?
It did occur to me to ask: do these verses even apply to me and this project? To answer that, we have to ask: Is housekeeping an "act of righteousness?"
As I put away my husband's clean clothes which have been sitting in the basket for, what, two days, now, I was grumbling to myself about it. And then I thought, why am I so upset about this? Do I think I am doing my husband a favour by staying home and looking after him, the house and the kids?
We have a very traditional marriage: I stay home, he goes to work. I know that sometimes he wishes I would work--just to alleviate some of the pressure on him. And sometimes, I wish he would take over the housekeeping for a week or two.
The point is, we could change the way we have things set up. As it is, doing the laundry, washing the dishes, shopping and cooking supper--that's my job. They aren't even "acts of service" strictly speaking. To my way of thinking, "acts of service" are acts above and beyond the necessary, the required, the ordinary. I could be wrong. But, they aren't "acts of righteousness" either, not by a long shot. As far as I understand it, it seems an "act of righteousness" has something to do with following God's law. Thus, how I feel in my heart about putting away my husband's laundry may be more an "act of righteousness" than doing the laundry, per se.
Does that make sense?
We have to have Mary's heart while we do Martha's tasks. And the Lord will surely reward that, as he promised.
4 comments :
It's definitely a good point. Mary's heart; Martha's tasks. I don't think that this project is necessarily a way for us to flaunt our successes. It may be your way to touch someone else's heart. Maybe someone needed to read this today. I know I did. Maybe this is more an "act of righteousness" than you thought. :D Thanks for the post!
Thank you so much for letting me know it helped. I appreciate it very much.
You don't have to quit this habit of sending post everyday. You can continue it even without the 31 days challenge. Or jump on the 28 days challenge Aby is having.
I've enjoyed your posts everyday, I would be delighted if you kept this up (ofcourse only if you want to do it)
....and you don't even have to ask ME, your newest/biggest fan. I think that what you're doing is being ACCOUNTABLE. Not bragging. There is a big difference.
Taking stock of your day and pleasure in your accomplishments is surely the way that God would want us to live. No?
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