Introductions

I was sipping citrus-flavored mineral water when she asked me.

It was a 'Let's get together and chat, have some tasty appetizers, listen to a presentation about home-based business, and then browse through a catalog of gorgeous items while considering our budgets' kind of party.

I do love tasty appetizers.

So she asked me. She wasn't the first. Someone else at the party had asked the same thing.

"What do you do?"

As I swallowed my sip of citrus-flavored mineral water, I paused for a moment, considering her possible response, and I answered, "I am a Stay At Home Mom."

"Oh."

Several years ago, I would not have left it at that. I would have recited my resume of accomplishments, some fairly remarkable, but most not. I would have explained the whys and the hows and the maybe one days.

But not anymore.

Oh, I could tell her what I do. I do laundry. I do dishes. I do the floors. I do the grocery shopping. I even do windows, on occasion.

I get up in the morning, still sleepy from the night before, roll out of bed and shuffle to the coffee maker. I warm the frozen pancakes and trod up the stairs to wake my sleepy daughter for school.

I trod back down the stairs, trying not to trip over the cat who thinks she is supposed to be the first one fed. Then I check on the microwaved pancakes, pour on the syrup (I don't skimp) and set the plate at the kitchen counter, calling upstairs for my sleepy daughter to come down to eat or we will be late this morning.

Meanwhile, my husband is getting ready for work. I try to make sure he has clean clothes, and tell him a quick "Good Morning" before he rushes out the door.

Once I coax the sleepy daughter to eat, get dressed and brush her teeth, I head out the door in my sweats, no make-up, except for some under-eye concealer, and drive my daughter to school before I start my day of doing laundry, doing dishes, and doing the grocery shopping.

But the woman at this party eating spinach-artichoke dip doesn't really want to know all of that. She doesn't really want to know what I do. What she really wants to know is who I am.

For many women, who they are is so tightly woven into what they do, they lose the unique pattern of their identity. The woman's nature is to be a doer, a fixer, a nurturer. It is so easy for women to become that which they do each and every day.

What about me?

I am a wife. I am a mother. A daughter. A friend. I am a church and school volunteer. I am all of those things, but lately, I am learning that there is only one job, one identity that is truly important.

I am His.

"For we are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Galations 3: 26

When I am doing the laundry and the dishes, and even the windows, my prayer is that I will reflect what Christ would have me be through Him.

I fail miserably, mostly when I try to do everything in my own strength. It is when I give it all to God, that His Love shines through, not mine. Only when I humble myself and remember what I am not, can I share with other people what an awesome God He is.

"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galations 2: 20

My prayer, my hope, is that when people meet me, they won't wonder what I do, or who I am. They won't even want to know anything about me, but somehow through my faith and failures in this imperfect life I live, they will want to know The God who helps me through it all.

They will only see Him for Who He is. They will see His goodness. His mercy. His love.

And they will turn to Him and say, "Nice to meet you."

Reflections:

Something to consider today as you do the laundry and pay the bills:

Do you feel lost in what you do?
A job?
Your family?
Ask God to give you peace and reassurance of who you are in Christ.



Join Melanie at her personal blogspot, "This Ain't New York."