Today, Mama and I went to the Dollar General. On our way home, we saw our neighbors (Actually, they live across the alley. But whatever.) shoveling snow from around their car. Obviously, there was a lot. So Mama asked me if I would go over and see if I could help. Usually, I would hesitate and ask "Why can't someone else?" But today, I just said yes, bundled up, and went over there.
Our neighbors are an elderly couple. Not crippled, helpless old people. Just old. Loxi is always lending us... well anything really. They had been working for a while so they were both tired. I was only there helping for about 20 minutes before they decided they were done for the day. As Loxi said, "I can think of 3 reasons, off the top of my head, why we should go inside. O. L. D." :) I love her and her family.
I got home and realized that I wasn't cold. In fact, I was pretty warm. I was fairly dry, except my boots. And I felt... just plain good. Honestly, it was weird at first. I started comparing yesterday to today. After a while, I figured it out. Doing something for a friend, or neighbor, or just about anyone because you want to is so different from doing something because you have to. So I'm gonna make my little mental chart in this post.
Chores:
suck, make me grumpy, not likely to be fun, basically ruin my day for about an hour or two
Service:
make me feel warm and fuzzy, so much more fun than chores, make me happy and nicer
suck, make me grumpy, not likely to be fun, basically ruin my day for about an hour or two
Service:
make me feel warm and fuzzy, so much more fun than chores, make me happy and nicer
Yeah. Also, some of the things on this list completely depend on your attitude. Just because your parents ask you to do something, doesn't mean that they're trying to make you grumpy and ruin your day. Usually, they're just trying to make your house look even the slightest bit presentable.
I'm going to try to brighten my attitude about chores this week. Here's a bit of advice- put some fun music on and dance around like an idiot while cleaning. It totally makes everything more fun.
Also, we have a cute little calendar thing with one quote for each day of the year. They all start with a small prayer and end with a quote. I'm going to start writing some of those on here.
Today's prayer says: "Lord, sometimes I feel I have a right to complain, but I do not want my life to become saturated with negative feelings. Help me to turn toward the positive. Amen." I did not know that would be so relevant to this post. Wow.
And the quote is: When most people are caught between two evils, most take the one they've never tried."
I'm going to try to brighten my attitude about chores this week. Here's a bit of advice- put some fun music on and dance around like an idiot while cleaning. It totally makes everything more fun.
Also, we have a cute little calendar thing with one quote for each day of the year. They all start with a small prayer and end with a quote. I'm going to start writing some of those on here.
Today's prayer says: "Lord, sometimes I feel I have a right to complain, but I do not want my life to become saturated with negative feelings. Help me to turn toward the positive. Amen." I did not know that would be so relevant to this post. Wow.
And the quote is: When most people are caught between two evils, most take the one they've never tried."
1 comment:
This post almost brought tears to my eyes. (Silly Mama!)
I hope you will remember this insight. I hope it will help you change your attitude. I hope it will change YOU.
And you're right - we don't ask you to do chores to make you grumpy (believe me, who wants grumpy kids?!) but to help serve around the house and have everyone help with something so nobody has to do it "all."
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