I have a confession to make. Deep down in the bottom of my soul I have started seeing myself as Rosie the Robot. Shocking, I know. If you don't know who Rosie is, I have provided this wiki-link. I came to this conclusion last week Friday morning. To say that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed would be the understatement of the year. My mood was so foul and I was so angry I may as well have been pushed out of bed onto a pile of legos, doused with ice water all while "Come on Eileen" (I HATE that song) played loudly in the background. I was just. that. pissy. However nothing that dramatic happened. I woke up to a hungry baby boy just like I always do. After I took care of his urgent hunger I proceeded to do things I'm not proud of, like throw laundry baskets in our bedroom to wake up Kel and kick the dryer, all this in addition to yelling and only speaking in thickly sarcastic phrases. I am sure you have never yelled or thrown anything, so please try to love me in spite of this.
After about 45 minutes of this rage bender I was able to step back and get a glimpse of what was really causing this crazy behavior. I slowly softened up as I explained myself to Kel and as I did I came to realize that I had developed some seriously flawed ways of defining myself. In the middle of the snot and tears I blurted out "I feel like I'm just Rosie the Robot and all I do is cook, clean and watch afternoon television, but I feel like I supposed to be so much more than that!"
Ah, there it is. I feel like "the help" of our family, a machine who cranks out food and clean laundry and doesn't need a lot of upkeep to keep functioning. You don't need a therapist to point out that this is an unhealthy mindset. I don't currently have a job outside of our house and so I believe that my days less valuable than Kel's because he has a career right now and I don't. I spend most of my time playing blocks, singing the ABCs and picking up messes. Most days I don't do my makeup or hair, I just change into a clean sports bra and yoga pants and keep doing the mom thing.
The lie is that I am a robotic maid and the truth is that I am a mother, guiding the steps of two beautiful little people. I am building a strong foundation for the life of children and this will echo in eternity. All the pot roasts and endless laundry are just fluff.
When I started to view myself as a maid or cook instead of a wife and Mom I threw myself down a slope that was bound to result in a dangerous crash. In my case it was the crashing sound of plastic laundry baskets against drywall, but for you it could be any number of weird noises. It is so easy to look at what you do with your days and think of your role as "less than" what someone else does. The enemy is all about making you feel small and insignificant, because people who feel worthless won't do too much about bringing the kingdom of God to their surroundings.
So now you may realize that you too have a flawed "rosie the robot" type view of yourself. Now you have to start seeing yourself as God does. None of us are worthless and every role is valuable. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 12, it talks about how every different set of talents and skills are valuable and essential, just like the different parts of the body. Perhaps the hands are more often seen in action but they couldn't do much without the invisible workings of the brain.
No matter what you do with your days, if you are living in God's will, you are fulfilling an essential and valuable role in this world. When we live with this attitude God will use our days to echo in eternity. Maybe you work at WalMart, a fast food restaurant, a shoe stores or you deliver pizza. I have been there. Just because you aren't in a business card toting career doesn't mean that God doesn't need you to do the Heck out of the job he placed you in. Almost everything in life is a season and if you are flipping burgers and you do it with gusto, you won't stay there long. God always promotes hard workers in one way or another.
I honestly believe that we each have some faulty ways of viewing ourselves and when I look around I am painfully aware of how easy it is to feel irrelevant. So know this: God didn't put a single irrelevant person on this planet, and that includes us. So today when I get around to putting on a clean pair of yoga pants I will view them as my super hero cape. I am a valuable person to my children and all I will interact with today. I have to remember what it is I am really doing with my life. I am a strong mother, a new author, and a faithful wife and friend.
So if you are feeling insignificant Remember that what we are doing with our hands is often not nearly as important as the mindset and attitude with which we do it.
Is there any way in which you need to redefine the way your view yourself? Maybe you too have been seeing yourself as a ridiculous old-school cartoon character. I would love to hear about it, and I really hope and pray that you realize how essential you are to this world.
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