Thoughts from my Big Green Chair

I sat down this afternoon to look up a quote in Elisabeth Elliot’s Keep a Quiet Heart because I wanted to share it with you. Now I cannot find it. Even so, I can share with you my thoughts. These are not new thoughts, but I am a slow learner and need to study the lesson once more.

Have you ever felt as though your family expects just a little too much out of you? I do. Some days I get upset at them.

“Why does it appear as though none of you have figured out how to put a role of toilet paper on the dispenser?”

“All right! Who washed lunch dishes? Come right back out here and wipe down the counter and this time do NOT leave a lake around the sink! You’ve left such a big puddle that my recipe file is flooded!”

“It was very nice for you to start a load of laundry. However, when you do not get it out of the washing machine, it begins to mold. I do not enjoy spending half a day trying to get the smell out of a load of clothes.”

My list goes on and on. Those little tasks of wiping splatters off the floor around the toilet, sweeping dirt that came off of boots that were not removed when entering the house, and taking out the compost when it was on someone’s “to do” list is just a small list of those things that I think they should not leave for me to do. I’m willing to do their laundry, clean house, cook and homeschool, but enough is enough. These things show a lack of respect and make extra work for me when I am already working hard just to take care of their needs.

And then Elisabeth tells me that Jesus did the tasks of the humble. He washed feet. We need to do “humble work.”

Humble work. I am called to do what I consider “beneath me.” Those tasks that are assigned to me that are unreasonable are “humble work.” I am to do it in honor of my Lord. Teaching my children to wipe things up and keep things clean is also part of the humble work because it has to be done a ridiculous number of times before anything “sticks.”

The Empty Canvas

An empty canvas waits before the Painter
It waits to be the painting it must be
Unto this end it’s rightfully been created
To reflect the rightful beauty the Painter sees
A beauty that will surely find its life within its dying
So another might be born again
And in this constant death a constant beauty is created
Within a constant love that never ends

Jesus is the Master Painter
The Holy Spirit is the Master’s Brush
To be dipped within the colors
That portray a Father’s love
That the Master’s painting might be born of us
To portray the beauty of the Master’s Brush
That the canvas of our life might know the Master’s touch

An empty canvas waits before the Painter
An empty canvas destined to be hung
Within the gallery once it has been created
Will the canvas bear the beauty of God’s Son?
By John Michael Talbot and Terry Talbot

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John Michael Talbot is one of my favorite composers. I prefer his early albums that have him singing his simple but deep songs accompanied by guitar and orchestra. Someday I will need to buy a record player or new CDs so that I can play those again. They speak to me even today as strains of the songs float through my mind...

Blessings.