Refocused : Beautiful Burdens and Responsibilities

I've been feeling a little off lately.

I don't know how to describe it exactly--I'm not upset or anything, and life is moving along at a happy and managable pace. But something in me just feels a little off kilter--like I can't quite catch my balance, and I don't know why.

So during scripture study today I felt pressed to look through my old... what should I call it? Church journal? Spiritual journal? Well my first journal where I wrote during scripture study or church or deep prayer or meditation. It has been a long time since I've cracked it open, and I found so many things to think on in just the first few pages that I only read about three or four. And one thing that one of my teachers (the incredibe Brother B!) said really struck and revitalized me, so I wanted to share it:

"How do you find the manna in the mundane?"

If you're not familiar, manna was the food that the Israelites were provided with as they traveled in the desert. It was sweet to the taste and appeared miraculously for them every day, but after a while they started thinking maybe it wasn't so delicious and wonderful after all.

It is the same with life. We get these incredible blessings, and we feel gratitude, awe, joy, happiness. But then all too soon we feel much too burdened and responsible--tied down and trapped. And as with most perpetuated misery, the problem isn't everyone (or everything) else--it's our own perspective.

Brother B told us,

"You have the opportunity to be burdened by beautiful responsibilities."

I thought about that, and it changed everything. Thinking of your "burdens" and "responsibilities" as opportunity instead allows you to see the miracles occurring all around you (Brother B said you choose which miracles you see, as well--smart smart guy!!). So after reading this I stopped and went through my head all the things I had been grumbling about--whether aloud or only in my own head--and miraculously they shifted from bothersome details to beautiful responsibilities.

So what if I have to be nice when I'd rather be cranky--isn't it worth that responsibility to have a happy husband and baby? And maybe nobody else is going to clean the toilets--but hello, we not only have running water, which not everyone does, but a very comfortable and beautiful home. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a job, so why complain that I have to spend time doing (and really, enjoying) my work? Jobs, parenthood, marriage, home, health--all beautiful responsibilities that take work and effort, but provide the only true deep satisfactions in life. It feels good to make your family happy, to help pay the bills, to care for your body.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Isn't it amazing how good you feel when you think about it this way?

Thank goodness for the incredible men who have been such positive influences and examples. For my dad and Steve for their usually cheerful attitudes, for Steve's enthusiasm about having me write in that journal (he gifted it to me when we were dating) so I could remember things I would have forgotten, and for Brother B for really getting what it's all about.

Hope you are finding manna in your mundane. :)