Embracing Toil

The sun is streaming into the kitchen and I am desperate for the glow it brings to the room.  I am longing to feel the rays of warmth rest on my being today.  I have become alerted to a conflict in my mind and the light begins to draw me away from the allure of the dark whisper of the world -- the one that says, It's all about you. 

I stop. 

I know that voice, and it does not speak the truth.  I take that deadly cogitation and seal it off.  I stop the lie and replace it with what is right.  The truth that Jesus said, "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve."  Truth, the only thing that can set me free to soar in this life I have.  The only way that I can escape the pull to focus on myself.

Already in this day, delusions have appeared before my eyes.  The cream coloured shampoo bottle called out with its advertising on the label, "This is what is in it for you!"  The Portbello mushroom packaging states, "Triple washed, so you don't have to."  They are subtleties, but they are real.  Combined with so many other unnoticed intimations, I feel the pull towards wondering, How easy can I make it for myself?  The perpetual gravity that entices me to leave hard work and look for the easy way out; I don't want to stay there.

I decide to raise my sword against the temptation of laziness, and embrace toil -- I do something simple, but profound -- I fill the sink with hot, soapy water.

I plunge my hands into the hot, bubbly liquid and the lavender scent fills my senses.  I begin to attack the pile of soiled dishes that are stacked beside me, and as I watch the steam rise from the sink, I think about the WHY of this task.  That even though I am two feet away from a fully functioning dishwasher, I am reminding myself of something important - God called me to serve, just as He served.  I intentionally slow down and savour the work, not because there isn't a mountain of other things waiting for my attention,there is, but because I want to stretch myself with the chore at hand.

As just for now, I deny the luxury of a machine that could lift this basic burden from me, I ponder.  I know the weaknesses that rest inside of me.  I feel the vortex that threatens to suck me into selfishness.  So I fight...to overcome the temptation... to remember I am capable...and to turn from the desire of the easy road. 

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."  Colossians 3:23