Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. Colossians 3:23-24 NLT Seriously?! Is that more dog hair? I just swept an hour ago. Why can't you clean up your toys after you play with them? Is it necessary to pull all the spoons out and put them on the floor? Ugh. Don't you know how hard I work to keep this house orderly? The truth is my kids have no idea. For some reason I sometimes forget that they are just kids and their priorities are vastly different than mine. Some days by noon I just feel so done. I just want a break. I want to sit and relax for five minutes. I love being a mom but these kids are demanding and won't slow down. The moment I feel this way my joy is gone. Have you ever tried to effectively parent without joy? It's hard! I get short with my kids and I'm just plain no fun. No one has a good time, least of all me. And I know that when I am this way I am not glorifying the Lord. We all get this way. At this moment, when we feel our joy is gone, we have a choice to make: will we keep going the rest of our day this way or will we seek the Lord and reclaim our joy? Our Bible verse today says, "Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." As moms this applies to us with our kids. We work for them. They are the reason we do mostly everything we do. When we choose to remember that we are moms because God called us to be moms we can more easily realize we are working for Him. We can be joyful because He sees all we do and how hard we work and He has promised us a reward. I try to remember that I am blessed to have the opportunity to raise the next generation of world changers. What an incredible thing God has entrusted to us. The days are hard and sometimes thankless but if we do our jobs right we will help change the world. Let us pray. Heavenly Father we thank you for this day and for the opportunity to be moms. We ask that you help us to keep our focus on doing our work for you and not for those in our lives. Help us to be patient with our family and help us to show them the same grace and love you pour out on us. Thank you Lord. Amen.