Judging...

I need a little reminder lately...of something I've needed reminding of in the past. I keep hearing God say in my spirit that I need to "stop judging what He gives me to do." Stop judging the things He puts before me each day. There are things He's doing in my heart through them and foundations of character and values being laid that I don't fully understand. So this post is for me - to remind myself of what I CAN see that He's done in the daily tasks that I'm so often prone to devaluing, thinking myself above or just poo-pooing.

Laundry: Since I've given myself over to doing all/most of the laundry in the house (a chore Bill used to do much of) I now see clothes more as a burden than anything else. I have aggressively given away clothes, bought WAY fewer and redefined what is "clean" (I can scrape that crusty white stuff off and wear this again!)

Trash: Since I'm home more, I care about our trash more. I HATE seeing all that trash and thinking about where it's all going to end up. It was bothering me that we were throwing away recyclables because we didn't have another bin. So I got another bin. And sometimes my mind will wander off into thoughts like "gee - if we all didn't buy our meat gutted, trimmed and marinated there would probably be WAY less styrofoam trash in the landfills." Or "What if I use that big jar of applesauce instead of all those little prepackaged ones?" Or "If we could just drink the water than runs out of tap instead of buying all those plastic bottles....."

Food: I throw away a LOT less food. I use our leftovers more and know better what quantities to buy. THIS has rung in my mind so many times from a 60Minutes/CNN/MSNBC (?) news report that we heard one evening: "The average American throws away an average of 1 pound of food per person, per day over the course of a year." Whoa. Could haphazardly throwing food away just because we don't feel like having it be an act of gluttony, ingratitude or something else?

Quality of food matters more to me too -- I'm still fine with a chicken fingers and french fry dinner every now and then, but I just find myself caring and thinking more about what I'm putting into our bodies. I've started buying real butter when a couple years ago that would have been unthinkable in favor of the no-fat-I Can't Believe it's Not Butter. It just started to bother me that it says right there in the name: IT'S NOT BUTTER. It's something else.

Dishes: I will find some redeeming value in dishes....someday.

This is for MY good. It is for my heart's good that I'm in a season of serving my family and serving Him in such mundane ways. To find Him and His heart in all these things is an act of worship for me. I'm not trying to be an environmentalist, minimalist or naturalist: I just find that the more I pay attention, the more God is showing me His heart for His Earth, His Body and His Values in all these small, daily tasks. If I would just stop judging them long enough to hear it.

My own, wacked definition of what's worth something is NOT the same as God's. So I'll take His and revolt against mine. I trust that if the things I am doing are not worthwhile to Him, He will guide me into a new place. I ask this of Him and remain open to hearing it.