Have To - OR - Able To

Do you ever have those days where you're bemoaning your to-do list before you ever set foot out of bed? You know the kind - "I have to do this" or "I have to do that." If you don't, then I applaud you because you are definitely a better person than I am.

Today wasn't necessarily one of those days, but it was cleaning day. And as I began gathering my supplies...

and occupying Mia with clutter-free activities (i.e., a TV show - I know, I know, shame on me), I remembered something I heard at a women's conference a few weeks ago.

What if, instead of focusing on the "I have to's," we focused on the "I am able to's?" (Lots of weird punctuation there - not sure if it's correct, but anyway.) So "I have to clean my house" turns into "I am able to clean my house because I am healthy and physically able." Or "I am able to clean my house because I have a house to clean which shouldn't be taken for granted these days."

As I dusted, vacuumed dog hair, cleaned toilets, vacuumed dog hair, mopped the floors, vacuumed dog hair, I kept mulling this thought over and over in my mind and began to apply it to other situations that frequently come about during my typical day.

I have to eat leftovers for dinner. ----> I am able to eat leftovers for dinner because I have good (not scrounged from a dumpster) food in the fridge to eat.

I have to take the boys to practice for the millionth time this week. ----> I am able to take the boys to practice because they are healthy and God has blessed them with athletic abilities. Or I am able to take the boys to practice because my minivan still runs and allows me to drive them where they need to go. (For those of you that know anything about my minivan this is a miracle in and of itself.)

Now I realize all of my examples are seemingly mundane tasks, but the sum of them makes up a lot of what I do (and what I feel God has called me to do) at this season of my life. So you can see how just changing a few simple words can make a huge impact on my daily outlook.

And just because my house only looks this clean for about an hour every two weeks, I thought I'd document it.

Colossians 3:23 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for man.