I’m always worried God will make me do stuff I hate. Like when I used to go to my grandma’s house and she kept trying to get me to eat tomatoes. One time she even attempted to win me over by sprinkling tomato slices with sugar, but I still hated them!
My preacher husband has been talking to us from the letter of James, how if we love Jesus we should do stuff for people—see their need and help them.
But does God task us with what is yuck?
Last week I had a friend who was caring for family members who were having a hard time. I said, “What can I do to help you?” She said, “Well, laundry? The dryer just went out.”
Laundry? I love doing laundry. No joke.
So I did baskets full of laundry for my friend, and I informed her that a person is truly a friend once she has folded your underwear. (Although here I must stop to say that a certain member of her family threatened me—with finger pointed in my face—that she would most definitely sue me if anything about her undies ended up on my blog. So I’m not going to say anything about those.)
Then a few days ago, another dear friend texted me: Could she use our dryer because hers went out. (And this is a family of seven, so emergency!)
More laundry? Hurray! Folding laundry is like this relaxing, therapeutic activity of orderliness to me.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Now, I’m thinking those good works aren’t generally going to be the sugar-sprinkled tomato kind. (Take a bite, gag, drink a bunch of water, take another bite.)
You know how I love to match clean socks and stack them all nice and neat? Well, it seems God likes to match people to works, like when two people who desperately need laundry done call the sister who is a weirdo and actually finds doing laundry fun.
So maybe we should wake up excited every day, knowing God has pre-planned good stuff for us to do, most of which will be a perfect fit for who we are and the skills and gifts we have to offer. (Although sometimes God does stretch us to do things we don’t enjoy.)
And when the friend on the other end hears the joy of, “I would love to do your laundry!” then she knows there is a marvelous God.
What good work would cause you to answer an eager yes?
Christy Fitzwater is a blogger, pastor’s wife and mom of two teenagers. She resides in Montana. Visit ChristyFitzwater.com for more information about her ministry.
