October 14, 2024
My daily alarm chimed at 5:30 am. After quickly turning the alarm off so as not to wake hubby, I stretched by back and lay there for a few more minutes before getting up. The night before I had mentally prepared myself for the busy Saturday morning of cooking and baking.
As my usual custom, I started the morning coffee in the yellow glow of the kitchen sink light. With coffee brewing, I sat down on the floor in front of the sink and tried to quietly lift my KitchenAid mixer from the far recesses behind the checkered curtain. Several metal clinks alarmed me but didn’t seem to disturb the other sleeping residents.
"Please, Lord, will you let the mixer work? I know it’s a rather silly prayer request," I prayed. And indeed it was a silly prayer request. After mixing too many large batches of very sticky dough, my mixer now clinked and groaned like an old jalopy on its last mile. I tried the mixer anyway, but nope, the mixer had a mind of its own. He had entered retirement whether or not I had agreed to let him retire.
"Well, I guess I will have to do this the old-fashioned way," I mused. I finished adding all the cinnamon roll ingredients in the mixer bowl then turned all the ingredients out onto a fabric cutting mat. I inwardly laughed at myself. Kneading dough on a fabric cutting mat? I don’t own a plastic dough mat, so the next best thing was to grab the fabric mat.
The night before as I thought through all of the necessary tasks for Saturday morning, I slightly dreaded the possibility of having to knead the dough myself. "That’s so much work, and I’m not very good at kneading." were my inner thoughts.
Yet a certain peace and calm settled in my heart as the yeasty smells pervaded my kitchen. Quickly, I gained a rhythm of fold, fold, palm, fold, fold, palm. On and on went the cycle. Like a child gleefully plunging her hands into a new batch of homemade playdough, I shared a small portion of that childish joy as the warm, elastic dough enveloped my hands.
My thoughts then turned to work and the joy that comes from a job well done. So often I avoid work, and in this modern era, uneasiness grips my heart if I don’t have all my usual conveniences to get my work done.
I also thought of women before me, getting up before dawn to light their woodstoves and begin the daily tasks of arduously preparing breakfast for their families. My great grandmother was among that noble crew as she baked ten loaves of bread at a time for her hungry farm family.
Perhaps it’s not a blessing that so many machines do our work for us. Perhaps God designed us to do the work. Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful for the machines in my home that make my life easier, yet I should not fear rolling up my sleeves and doing what is required of me. God designed me to work, and there is joy in doing the work that God has called me to do.
The older I get, the more I realize that the tasks God has laid before me should be met with joy, not dread. God built me to work, and when I embrace the work with joy, a content happiness fills my spirit. Oh I might not make money from my work and no one may recognize the work I do, but the inner satisfaction of doing God’s work in my home for my family is more satisfying that an impressive paycheck.
Friend, what work lies before you? How can you embrace your God-given tasks with joy? May you delight to do the work that God has called you to do this week. No one else can do the work the He has called YOU to do!
-Ashley
Personal Disclosure
As the author of Ashley Qurollo Blog, all opinions are my own. Any possible applications are universal in nature, not directed at any one individual or people group. My sincere desire is to help others by sharing what I am learning. Nothing stated on this blog is ever intended to hurt others. Ashley Qurollo, owner of Ashley Qurollo Blog and Website, is not held liable in any way for any application of the ideas and thoughts stated here.
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