Tuesday, December 10, 2013

I Have NEVER Fixed the Brakes

My bed gets made *almost* every day.
"My" bed, in which my husband also sleeps.
And often times that makes sense to me, because he gets up before I do - to go work out. I'm the last one out of bed, so I make it.
But that isn't always the case. Sometimes I'm up and out of the house before Brian, and when I get home the bed looks just like it did when I left.
Minus my husband's hunk of studly body, that is. *wink*
And so I confess, there has been more than one occasion when I have been making the bed after a long day of work (OK, I know - at that point there are only hours until it will be time for me to go to bed again and mess it all up. But I like a made bed. Don't judge.) and I have grumbled in my heart something like, Really? Why can't Brian ever make the bed? Is it written somewhere that bed-making is MY job? He sleeps in it, too, after all.
Typically, my grumbling gives in to a self-righteous mental rant of all the things I always do around the house and for the family. *cue the woe-is-me music*

As HE so often does, God gave me pause during one of those grumbling episodes for a brief perspective check. I'm not sure how it happened. (It certainly wasn't anything of MY doing, so I can only attribute it to the power of the Holy Spirit.) All I know is suddenly I was thinking about all the things Brian does do around here.
We just got new windows, and Brian took care of coordinating, ordering, and paying for that whole ordeal. He put up the Christmas lights outside. Whenever we have issues with the car or van, he always takes care of it. He's also my go-to guy whenever I'm having computer problems. These are not "every day" things like making the bed is, but they're bigger things - and I simply don't want to deal with them.
In as much time as it took for me to list off the things Brian does - which I DON'T do - God stopped my grumbling and changed my heart. HE gave me the ability to be thankful for all the things Brian does, rather than to focus on the things he doesn't.
And then, the funniest thing happened.
Last Friday I noticed the brakes on the van making a terrible noise. (I usually drive with music on, so I have no idea how long I'd been missing whatever was happening with the brakes.) I told Brian there was a problem and left the van home on Saturday so he could "look at it".
And Saturday afternoon he told me, "I fixed the brakes."
Just like that.
It was that easy!
All I had to do was mention the problem, and it was fixed.

Sunday morning as I was making the bed again, instead of grumbling I thought about how thankful I am for my husband. He does so much for me!

Being thankful is a much better place to be than grumbling. What are the things you have to be thankful for today?

Karen

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Loved this. Thought of this last night while I was cleaning up all the kids toys on the floor while everyone was warm in their beds. "I wish I WAS SLEEPING!" I thought....even in a snotty tone. Lol and then I thought... my babies have toys and they are happy and safe in their beds... we said our prayers earlier and my husband had fallen asleep in bed with my middle son. I walked in. Kissed all of them and went to bed smiling instead of crabby. Beautiful. I love your posts. Your stories are so relatable. I appreciate you. God bless you and your word for mothers like me.

Karen Hossink said...

Mary - Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I have been in your position many times, too! ;)
I'm always glad when God steps in and helps me get a correct perspective, aren't you? ((hugs))