Why do I do what I do? I've contemplated that question today. During the course of the day, there were a couple of Aha moments. During those moments I began to realize the importance of being a Mom and the value of doing what I do. It may be slow and gradual, but God is showing me that the little things we work on in a day do grow into bigger things!
For starters my friend Amanda and I had gotten together for some girl time. :) We ate together, shared current events, encouraged each other and even solved some of the worlds problems! At the end of our visit, she reminded me of the app that shows you how many weeks you have left with your child. It's based on their birth date and graduation. I quickly looked up how many weeks I/we have with Michael and there was a sobering 261 weeks! That was the first Aha moment.
After school, Michael had some down time then we headed out the door to Grandma's house. She was having us over for dinner, but I like to multitask, so while she cooked supper, Michael worked on homework and I mowed her lawn.
On our way to my Mother in law's house, I noticed Michael's attitude needed some adjusting. I did find out that in this last full week of school the teachers piled on the homework and projects. Guess they want to end the year in a bang! He was upset because he was feeling overwhelmed by all the projects due this week. I tried reassuring him that I would help him with it. I advised him on working on what was due first and to take it one step at a time. I pointed out that I would guide him, not do his work for him, just help point him in the right direction. He wanted none of it. He wants to be independent. It's so hard as a Mom to let go!
We got to Mom's house and Michael quickly set up his work station. After mowing, and before supper, I tried to pry some information from him. Just seeing how things were going. This was met with opposition, to which I dug in my heels and decided, I'm the Mom and I set the rules. Both of us on a stubborn streak, neither of us budging. I prayed, "God what do I do here?". That's when I realized more than working on any homework assignment, we needed to work on attitudes. One simple question came to mind. What would Jesus do? I know it was God giving me the answer to my short, yet urgent request. What would Jesus do? I mean he's not Jesus and I'm certainly no Mary the mother of Jesus. But I really wanted both of us to contemplate it. That was Aha moment number two.
I asked Michael, "What would Jesus do?". Still no change in the attitude. I told him I would not comply to his rudely offered request until he figured out the answer to that question (and demonstrated it). The question just hung in the air and I waited in silence as the wheels were turning in his brain. Finally the light began to dawn. He made his request of me in a polite tone of voice and he even said please. :) This time I immediately complied!
After supper, Michael went back to his homework session. One assignment was to find 5 songs that represent who you are. To which I quickly started singing one that's my theme song "cause I got a few dents in my fender, got a couple rips in my jeans." Then we started thinking of songs that would represent Michael. For me the assignment was easy and I could have done it in a flash, but my son is a different bird- takes after his Dad! We came up with some fun songs like Oh Chihuahua! and a couple of silly type songs. But were there any songs of the Christian genre that represent who Michael is? He finally admitted that he likes some of Steven Curtis Chapman's music. To which my heart was doing a happy dance, but I remained calm on the outside. He couldn't think of the title, so he told me some of the words from the song. I quickly gave him the title, Do Everything
Aha moment number 3!Here I didn't think he had a song and he picks the Grand Daddy of them all for meaning and purpose! Michael chose wisely and from a Mother's heart I hope that desire never changes!
So why do I do what I do? To bring glory to God! Whether it's laundry, mowing the lawn,.. well I'll just let SCC give you a better idea. This is the verse that Michael remembered::
Do Everything
. . .
Maybe your that guy with the suit and the tie
Maybe your shirt says your name
You may be hooking up mergers
cooking up burgers
But at the end of the day
Little Stuff
Big Stuff
In between stuff
God sees it all the same
While I may not know you
I bet I know you
wonder sometimes, Does it matter at all?
Well let me remind you, it all matters just as long
As you do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you
