Sweep up the Crumbs

Have you ever had one of those weeks that just felt plain crummy?

Your dishwasher broke. Your baby has been extra fussy. An online order that you're really excited for came in, only for you to realize that they sent you the wrong item. You spilled your latte after taking only one sip.

None of the incidents are related to each other, but you end each passing day feeling increasingly overwhelmed, weary, or just plain annoyed. This kind of week happened to me recently and I finally had an "aha" moment. I was feeling discouraged because I hadn't swept up the crumbs.

I had allowed myself to throw a small pity-party at each and every situation. I thought "yep, just another terrible thing" after each one and left all of the crumbs to pile up into a big ole mess. We'd never let this happen in our physical house. If there's a mess, we clean it up and move on. We don't leave it there to dwell on how horrible it is that we dropped a chip and stepped on it!!

So why do we let all the crumbs of these stinky situations pile up and leave us with a fussy attitude and a disordered mind? Not only does this mess affect us, it affects everyone in our midst as well.

What we ought to do is look at each incident and admit that yes! This is hard! This is not fun. I'm really not enjoying this. BUT, Lord, help me to offer up thankfulness instead of fussiness. Lord, help me to be a woman who can quickly clean up her mess and cheerfully move on to the next thing You've called me to. Lord, help me to laugh at this! Help me to glorify You, even in this.

This makes all the difference. Scripture doesn't make room for bad attitudes just because unfortunate things happen to us. The Lord tells us to rejoice always. Give thanks in all circumstances. Not because it's a magic trick to happiness, but because it's obedience to God's will. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

May we not leave our mess lying around for our husbands, children, parents, or roommates to step in. Let us commit to sweeping up the crumbs right after they fall to the floor so that we may abound in joyful work unto the Lord.