I can do my own laundry. There is no reason that I cannot do my own laundry. Except hubby insists it is his job to do it because I work. RME He told me Tuesday he would do my laundry; instead he did his. Yesterday morning I sorted my laundry out on the bathroom floor (barely 3 loads and maybe even 2) and he insisted he was going to do it. I never said a word. If he had left the house I would have done it myself and have done it myself on Friday mornings when he's gone - my entire laundry can be done and put away in less than 2.5 hours - and it takes him all day and sometimes two days to get it done. Seriously. He stresses over it. So just now, in he comes to interrupt me and ask if he should put in one load now and wait until he gets back to finish it up. I told him I don't care; do whatever he wants to do. I can do my own laundry!!
He has a 7:30AM training appointment. Now mind you, it is before 7AM and this is my 'quiet time' - and he comes in to interrupt me about doing my laundry. Sigh. He plans to go to breakfast with one of his friends this morning after training, which means he won't be home until 9:30-ish. I could have it all done by then!! Maybe I should tell him to put a load in now - and then while he is gone I finish it. His focus at times is incredible.
And he's frustrated, I get that. His hearing aids (one of them) went out while we were in New Mexico. He made it back to the hearing aid place yesterday. Sigh. He was so down last night it would take a shovel to pick him up. Because he sweats so much, the batteries in these hearing aids corrode within two weeks or less. These are the expensive ones that 'we' purchased less than a year ago. At night he puts them in a container to recharge and clean. Well, they started telling him about a month ago that it is his sweating (and sweat in his ear) that is causing the corroding of the batteries. They have replaced the hearing aids 3-4 times, I think already. Ok - I'm getting to the 'sad' part.... 'they' have come out with a new style of hearing aid that has the battery enclosed in plastic so that sweat will not corrode the battery. That's great! Right? Except he doesn't have that kind of hearing aid. The cost of this new hearing aid? Are you ready for this? $4200 I think he said.
When he got his first hearing aids I paid $1600. He was constantly changing the batteries so when he heard about this one with them charging overnight, he 'had to have them' so I paid another $1600 (after insurance this time) for those. Insurance he has now does not cover hearing aids, so for him to get the newest style - well, it would go again on my credit card for me to pay. And I have told him 'no'. Am I wrong? And, yes, it's about the money. I'm trying to save for emergencies, and I don't consider this an emergency. I suggested he go back to the hearing aids he had gotten from Costco. He complained that he was always having to change the battery (cause his sweat depleted them). So - I'm going to buy a case of batteries today and tell him to find them and start wearing them. I don't care if he changes batteries every two hours - at least he can hear, right?
So that is what is going on this morning. I was awake at 2AM and couldn't go back to sleep so finally got up at 3:30AM. I did fall asleep in here for about an hour before hubby came in with my coffee. And I'm still tired. It's going to be a long day, I think.
I was reading in Acts 10 this morning about Peter going to see a Gentile Centurion by the name of Cornelius. Do you realize that Cornelius is the first Gentile to become a Christian - and henceforth salvation was also given to us? Yeah, we're Gentiles too. We are not Jewish. Although my ancestry report says (I think) that I was 1% Jewish. I just say 'Yeah, Jesus is my brother'. :-) And He is.
It really is an interesting story - why not pull your Bible down off the shelf and look it up and read it? You might find the entire story interesting. Remember, Simon Peter had gone up on the rooftop where he was staying at Simon the Tanner (people were known by occupation back then) so that he could pray. While he was up there, he got hungry. While food was being prepared for him, he went into this trance of all kinds of clean and unclean animals being let down from heaven on a sheet. He was told to 'take and eat' and Peter protested as there were a lot of unclean animals (i.e., pigs?) in there. (if you read in Genesis, God tells you what you should eat and what you shouldn't. Fish that swim on the bottom of the lake/ocean scavenging for food and pigs that eat anything - are not on the 'good list'.) Anyway, by the third time of seeing that giant sheet laid down, Peter was really thinking about what it could possibly mean when the men arrived to ask him to come with them to see Cornelius.
Acts 10:27-28 (NKJV): While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: "You are well aware it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean."
Wow - what a reality check! No one should be called impure or unclean just because of race, of color, of nationality. We are all Christians when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord. We may follow Him in different ways, according to our cultures and what we know, but as we learn more of Jesus and choose to follow Him with our lives, we find that following Jesus is not as hard as it sounds. Grateful for a loving heavenly Father who forgives our slip-ups and helps us walk in the right way.
I was pondering some of my choices this morning in my struggle to be 'me'. Some of you may understand that comment. Yes, I am a wife, a mother, an employee, a minister, but I am also me. There is so much I want to do for Jesus and yet, my hands have been tied behind my back for years. Some day, perhaps I will be able to do some of the things I dream about. But then, maybe it also isn't God's plan for me. I mean, after all, if it WAS His plan for me, wouldn't He have already orchestrated things? Am I just impatient? I still have so much to learn. In reading one of my books this morning she shared about how she had a dream and was slowly working towards it when she felt her 'passion' for God shift into another area. She wasn't sure how to process that. But she did, and she has found such joy in doing what she felt God was leading her in to. Perhaps I need to just wait on God's timing and keep learning and preparing myself. I need to quit making excuses why I can't take classes and why I can't do specific things. I need to plan and just do it - and leave the rest of to God.
And so do you. What is your passion? Where do you think God is wanting you to step up and participate? One thing I have learned all these years, don't overwhelm myself with the 'doing' for it takes the enjoyment of doing away from others. Does that make sense? True, people don't volunteer too often. And it's the same ones who volunteer and same one(s) who have to do the job, time after time, because they 'do it so well' and 'they have the time'. Be careful. Be honest enough to admit that volunteering for some things just isn't 'your thing' and if it is causing you anxiety or stress, perhaps you need to be honest enough to say "I can't do this". And you know what? It's ok. Someone else will step up and do it. You will feel guilty (been there, done that) about stepping away, but you will feel better about it.
Got to go - time for work! Hope you have an amazing day!
Blessings!
