New perspective.

so tonight I got stuck with cleaning the dishes in my house. [aka twenty minutes of getting soaked and touching other people's food. food they didn't want, and left on their plate to get cold and gross.]

basically, i hate doing the dishes and it's my least favorite chore.

although in general, household chores just suck.

not to say i don't enjoy the cleanliness that comes after the chores are done,

getting them done is just a pain.

but the thing is, chores are one of those things that you just have to do.

cleaning and organizing are things that I've gotta do to keep things in order.

i mean if i didn't do dishes or didn't do my laundry, i would end up running out of clean clothes and dishes while racking up a big stack of gross and dirty objects. which is kind of disgusting.

i mean i know all of this is obvious and everything, but it just got me thinking.

what if I started viewing God's work in my life like chores?

I'm not talking about the times when life seems to be going great and everything is wonderful.

i mean those times when life is just hard.

when things aren't going my way, and I'm feeling lost.

when God is trying to teach me something that I just don't want to hear.

I'm talking about when things are going in a direction I don't want them to, and I don't know why.

See, during those times I hardly ever have any idea what God is trying to do in my life. Plus I just get caught up in how hard it is, and usually lose focus of the fact that God is in control. Which is so selfish of me, and it's something that I need to work on. However it always turns out so much better than I could have ever expected, and I always end up thanking God for working in my life. Looking back, there have been times that I have felt so rock bottom and confused as to what God is trying to do, but once it all becomes clear I can joyfully thank Him for what he has done for me. See the thing is, while doing the chores isn't exactly enjoyable, the cleanness afterwards is worth it. Now obviously God's work in my life is so much more important than chores (and just about everything else in life), but it just started to give me the slightest bit of perspective. I need to realize that God has a plan for me, and even if I don't see it in the meantime, God will always have my best interest in mind. Always. Everything He does for me is good. Anything God ever does is good. I just find that so encouraging! So while there are times that are hard and confusing, I just need to have faith that God is always going to do something good for me if I let him. I'm not saying it won't be tough and a little scary, but I'm learning that I just need to set that aside and let God do His thing.