Every few years it seems like there are a ton of showers all at once. This year, it's wedding showers. I think we're having four in a month's time at our congregation this year. A few years ago, it was baby showers. We figure we'll have another run of those in a few years, considering all the newlyweds we're racking up right now. ;-) I am one of those people who would rather give something homemade if possible. Especially if it's for someone I'm close to. Needless to say, when my good friend's son is one of the ones in the groom category, I want to do something extra. So, I started an afghan. Normally, it's not a big deal for me to sit down and work on a project. Normally, I give myself plenty of time to get it done. But for some reason, this year everything snuck up on me. And I was scrambling to complete the project in time for the shower. It probably doesn't help that I never pick the easiest way to do things, but like complicated patterns and multiple colors, which means changing out the yarn every few rows.
And I caught myself saying, "I hope they appreciate this." Whoa. They didn't even ask me to do this for them. This was all my own choice. And the more I thought about it, the more I remembered saying that about a lot of things I do. Like the dishes or making dinner or laundry or buying clothes or finding ways to earn some extra cash or ... well, you get the idea. And it gave me major pause. If I'm doing all this for the appreciation, am I do it for the right reason? No. Granted, it's nice to be appreciated. But that shouldn't be the motivating factor. Especially since you know as well as I do that a lot of day-to-day tasks are simply taken for granted that they'll happen. I do the same thing to others in my family, too. Since then, I've tried to slow down and reset my mindset. I don't want to do things for what I can get out of it. I want to be doing them out of love. Out of knowing it will make someone else's life easier. Not for any accolades I might receive. Have you run into a similar situation? Do you catch yourself doing things for the wrong reason? How do you fight against such temptations?
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This is a place for me to share thoughts and ideas not just related to writing. Thoughts about what's going on in my life, about an idea I got that I thought shareworthy, or just a funny anecdote.
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