On Fruit and Monday Mornings

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Some Monday mornings don’t look quite like we had planned. I had all sorts of plans for this Monday morning. Most of them centered around coffee, the Ellie Holcomb station on Pandora, and a ton of writing. But the fruit … oh the fruit. The fruit so desperately needing to be turned into something else before the fruit fly invasion began. The fruit beckoned.

And so I found myself baking apple/pear bread and orange/cranberry/peach bread. While the breads were in the oven I went ahead and washed the sheets on James Ed’s bed and vacuumed the living room and dining room. Because, really, what else was I going to do in that hour. When the timer buzzed, I gave James a piece of the warm bread and cleaned the kitchen and then went ahead and made my bed and hung up all the Sunday clothes. Before I knew it, Scott was home for lunch so I sat with him for a bit and then got supper started.

Now it’s 2:30 p.m. and I have a couple of hours before time to pick up Casiday and I find myself reflecting on the past few hours. I didn’t do one thing on my list. In fact, I haven’t even written down the list I had in my mind when I got out of bed this morning.

I haven’t done much the world would celebrate today.

I didn’t pen any words to inspire a nation torn by race and fear and anger. I haven’t made a dent in the epidemic of starvation around the world or even the poor in my community. I didn’t accomplish a big goal. And, it’s looking like I may not even get out of my yoga pants.

It would be easy to think these things like clean sheets and warm bread and vacuumed floors are small and don’t matter. And maybe in the grand scheme of the world, they don’t matter much. But in my world, they matter. They matter a lot. Because clean sheets are the best feeling when you lie down at night and vacuumed floors are perfect for wrestling on with the dog and warm bread fills more than stomachs.

Life is full of so much we cannot control and understand. We can’t fix hunger around the world but we can give a warm slice of bread to someone we love. We can’t provide beds and mosquito nets for those in need but we can wash the sheets for those in our homes.  We can’t build homes for everyone without but we can take care of the places we live.

Yes, there is a place meeting needs over there … for mission trips and sacrificial giving and serving in our communities and around the world. But sometimes, the need we’re meant to fill is right here in our homes … in the kitchen with the overflowing sink and the laundry room with the mountain of clothes and the yard with the mess of toys and the living room with the dusty tables and the bedrooms with the unmade beds.

So on the days when you can — go! But on the days when you can’t — stay. And wherever you are, do it all for His glory.

Whatever you do, in word and deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Colossians 3:17

From my heart to yours:

What you do matters!!

xo,
Teri Lynne

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