I'm Not Your Maid!

Didn't I just pick up that toy and put it away!?

I know I just folded that blanket and put it up!?

How many times do I have to clean this room today!?

How many times do I have to tell you to pick this up!?

Have you said these phrases recently, or thought them? Do you feel as though you are on the losing end of a game you never wanted to play?

Sometimes we feel as though we are just following behind our kids -and let's admit it, sometimes our husbands too- picking up their stuff. I cannot tell you how many times I have told my kids "I'm not your maid!" I get frustrated when I wash the kitchen counters only to have juice spilled on them less than ten minutes later. It bothers me when I straighten the cushions on the couch only to have the kids flop down on them and mess them up again. I feel like I am losing their game.

What does God say about this?

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed,

do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Colossians 3:17

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, 

as working for the Lord, not for human masters.

Colossians 3:23

The Bible tells us to do these things for the glory of God. Everything we do should be as though we are doing it for God. Even when that is picking up the same toy, changing a diaper, or turning off the unused light yet again.

Now, I am not saying we should be a doormat to our family. We shouldn't. I am not saying we don't need to teach our kids to be responsible and obedient. We do. 

But I am saying that when we need to do these things over and over, when we are tired of the unending battle, we need to turn to God. Focus on Him and do it for His glory.

I am not my family's maid, but I am their wife/mom and that means I need to be available to help them, to serve them, and to sometimes do things over and over, things I don't like doing. I need to do it without compliant and do it for the glory of God.

When you get tired of picking up the same toys, cleaning the same hand prints off the tv, or saying for the hundredth time to stop touching that, put your eyes on God.