Stepping It Up

Have you ever had one of those experiences where someone was completely blown away by the actions you are taking? Mine was a little astonishing because it wasn’t because of any record breaking activity, i didn’t speak infront of thousands to inspire them, I didn’t even overhaul the engine in my car; rather I simply made dinner and washed the dishes.

This was so astonishing because it was a little of how I was raised. Granted, I didn’t pick up on some of it until I was out on my own, but even though I may have worked all day and “brought home the bacon”; I still had the ability to fry the bacon and serve the friends who had come over.

It did pose the question for me, “why are people so blown away, especially wives, that I would be doing such tasks?”

Why is it that this is an uncommon thing for women to experience? Is it laziness on the men’s part? A hypercritical movement of feminism? Or is it just ignorance on the part of men?

Sound pretty critical of me? Well it is.. but i would follow that with the question, “Am I wrong to be critical on this arena?”

I would challenge everyone (especially men) to dive into Ephesians 5 and see we are called to live to a higher standard as men leading the family. YES… there is a lot of what is being said to women too but tonight the focus just on the fellas….

GUYS CHALLENGE

Fellas for the next 2 weeks, I would like to challenge you to do the following..

Make dinner- at least 2 times a week

Put your kids to bed- every night

Wash the dishes- especially if she makes dinner

Pick One- chore that your wife does every day and take it over for her

This will benefit her in great and respectful ways… and that is the primary reason that you should do it..

Ring in on what this has meant for you this week and what it has meant for her.. also don’t be this guy:

Like a virus…

This morning, I was in the kitchen with our 6 year old, Ella as she was making her own breakfast of Little Smokies. As the smokies neared their completion, she laid out three bowls onto the kitchen counter. Initially this was the first surprise of the morning. The reason for the surprise was due to the earlier fact that her brother had taken the rest of the cereal that she wanted for breakfast, and there seemed to be some hurt feelings, yet one of the three bowls was for him.

As she asked me to help her to distribute the smokies into the bowls, I easily caught who the first two were for since it was the bowls that Jake & Ella had made at a local shop. Jake’s is a green & white bowl, while Ella’s is a pink & white bowl, but, there was a third bowl that was on the counter. Their youngest sister, Olivia, does not have a bowl since her item that was made at the pottery shop was a plate; and at this point Olivia is still sleeping. I then asked Ella, who is the last bowl for, thinking that maybe her gracious heart had me in mind for the morning eats.

Although instead of my own selfish thoughts, Ella had her sleeping sister in mind. She told me that she was making Olivia breakfast in bed. Not only did this take me back but the next step floored me even farther as Jake quickly said that he would help get the items together for Olivia’s breakfast treat. Now, rather than a single operation of one person helping another, the steps were growing contagious and by the time Olivia was waken for her breakfast, we were all in her room surprising her with the royal treatment.

The reason that I say that this was like a virus, is because in my own self, in the lives of my kids, and many many others; we see the innate longing to only take care of number one, but like how a virus or disease spreads, it quickly encompassed us all in this voyage of kindness. As a parent, this completely melts your heart to see how your kids are developing and it totally covers the times when you wonder if they are even listening!

It is so cool to watch how one persons movements of kindness can completely pull others in to be selfless to other people around them. I see this very often in the lives of the people at our church, in the lives of people outside of the church, and most exciting; in my kids. They do have random days that I think that they are completely possessed by a demon, but then on days like today, I am encouraged.