{Three Word Wednesday} I Get To ...

Welcome to Three Word Wednesday! If you’re joining me from Beth Stiff’s lovely place, I’m so glad you’re here. Please make yourselves at home. 

If you’re not sure what Three Word Wednesday is about, then please stay and let me tell you. Three Word Wednesday is a chance to pause in the hustle of life and hear God. Sum up what you’re hearing in three words. Those three words are enough. But I like stories, so feel free to elaborate with your words or pictures. Then link up your post below each Wednesday and visit your link-up neighbors. If you don’t blog, you’re still welcome to participate. Share in the comments below or on Facebook.

Feel free to grab the Three Word Wednesday button from my sidebar and share it at your place. 

And one more piece of business :: Ava Watkins, you’re the winner of “Bread & Wine” in Beth’s giveaway last week. We hope you love the book as much as we do.

Without further ado, I GET TO …

My kids were helping me unload the dishwasher recently when my 7-year-old daughter Cate stopped with a stack of plastic cups in her hand and said, “Didn’t we do this yesterday?”

Yes, we sure did. I reminded her that we eat multiple meals each day, thus continuing the unending cycles of loading and unloading the dishwasher. And as a family, we work together when things need to be done.

{I should have launched into how when Cate was born we didn’t even have a dishwasher. I washed all those bottles by hand. And then when she was about 8 months old, we had our kitchen remodeled, thus clearing the space for a dishwasher in our other house.}

But, yes, we unloaded the dishwasher yesterday. Because I cooked dinner yesterday too. And I did laundry who knows how many days in a row. And I drove you kids to school. And … the list could go on and on.

My girl’s question reminded me of how many chores and outings and tasks I do over and over again. Too often I take that repeating cycle for granted. I just go about our routine, sometimes even complaining about more clothes and more dishes that need washing, like the household chores own my time. But, really, shouldn’t I be thankful I have people to clothe and feed? Shouldn’t I be grateful we have machines that I can load and program to help me with my work?

That same evening – after the dishwasher was unloaded and loaded back again – I gathered in my basement with some other women for our weekly study of Beth Moore’s “Breaking Free.” At the beginning of the video session, Beth Moore said something that applied directly to Cate’s question not an hour earlier: “Don’t let familiarity cheat you of a blessing.” She was talking about how we assume we know what a scripture will speak to us because we’ve heard it so many times.

But her words applied to my heart that night in a different way.

I made a mental list of all the things I do every day that I don’t see as blessings. Dishes. Laundry. Dinner. Errands. Taking insulin. Setting my alarm. Packing my girl’s lunch. I see these things as chores and responsibilities.

But I love my life, especially the people in my house. I should go about those oh-so familiar chores and responsibilities and tasks with an attitude of “I get to …” rather than seeing them as a never-ending list of what I have to do before the day is done.

I want my attitude toward all these things that I do nearly every day to reflect how I feel about my people. I want to love my husband and kids through my housekeeping and meal planning. I want to serve and help and create and finish because I get to – and there most certainly is a blessing in that.
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I'm sharing this post in two other link-up communities I love :: Jennifer Dukes Lee's #TellHisStory and Holley Gerth's Coffee for Your Heart. 

Want more stories? "Peace in the Process: How Adoption Built My Faith & My Family" is available on Amazon. Like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, peek into my life on Instagram, follow 152 Insights at Bloglovin', or subscribe to receive "Insights in Your Inbox."