One Thing

All last week, I put on the face of the supportive wife and did double duty at home as Eric worked overtime to research, write and rehearse his message for Sunday morning. He tried hard to make sure our needs were met before sneaking away to his man cave. I tried hard to give him the space and support he needed to get things done. Truth be told however, I was sulking. When was it going to be my turn? I've had a hard day too. I don't want to do the dishes again.

I have never been more excited to get to a Sunday morning -- and for what? So I could be the center of his universe again, of course! So there I sat, carried along by the humor and reliving each of the (true) stories he told, completely lost in the message. And then a few statements hit me right between the eyes and started to sting just a little bit. "Submission isn't about who has authority over you, but who has priority over you."

Now, I do a lot around my house, but its often not out of a selfless love and determination of priority for my family. Most often, its self serving -- I want MY house to be clean; I want to eat a good, home cooked meal; I want to be recognized for all MY hard work. Who's the priority in all of that? I want a better picture and I'm outwardly following the pattern, but God doesn't really care about that, does He? The Pharisees outwardly followed the pattern, but Jesus called them whitewashed tombs. Their hearts weren't in it. For me sometimes, what looks like following the pattern to everyone else, is really just making sure my needs and wants are taken care of. My heart's not in it. Or rather, my heart's in it only for what I can get from it. I already do the laundry, fold it and put it away -- that eliminates the mess, who cares how the socks are folded?

Its easy to think the message shouldn't apply to you when your husband is the one doing the preaching. As Eric was suggesting that we all do one thing each day for one week to put others first, my tendency was to exempt myself. After all, I did about a hundred things last week! But if I'm going to be the church, if I'm going to re-sync my relationships, it starts with the small things, in my own home, with my own family. So today, I placed the socks neatly together and folded them in half. Just the way he likes it...

What was your "one thing?"