Thursday, May 2, 2013

The Things We Do For Love

"love does not seek its own"
1 Corinthians 13:5

We had tacos for dinner the other night.  It's one of our favorite meals.  Maybe it's because everyone can make their taco exactly the way they like it.  No two tacos alike.

It's also one of my favorite meals because everyone helps.  Generally speaking, one or both of my Amazing and Awesome children, or even the Apple of my Eye, will offer to help me make dinner.   And sometimes I take them up on it, and sometimes I don't.

But taco night is one of the few times that we are all in there at once.  I guess there's just so much prep work, there's something for everyone to do.  Browning and seasoning the meat (that's usually my job), shredding the cheese, dicing the tomatoes, cutting up the lettuce, maybe an avocado, beans if we're having them, and of course, opening the can of sliced olives, and the sour cream container.  Everyone loves those two jobs...

But the funny thing to me is that, when the kids report to the kitchen to help out, they'll do any task, except

The except is different for each of them.  One of them dislikes cutting the lettuce, and one of them would rather not dice the tomatoes.  And I'm pretty sure one of them also avoids shredding cheese... 

I don't really know who prefers what job.  Mostly because I don't care to know.  As long as they do something, their father and I will something else, and somehow the dinner all comes together. 

It's funny to me that one person's least favorite job is somebody else's "sure, whatever".  And it got me to thinking about when people say, "You couldn't pay me to do that."  Which is sometimes true, and sometimes is an exaggeration.

Have you ever said that?  Or maybe thought it?  I guess it's the kind of thought that's more effective when it's said out loud, so maybe nobody just thinks it.

Like maybe when you hear about one of those daredevil challenges on a reality show... Or watch someone who does for a living what would be cruel and unusual punishment for you.  Or maybe even just the thought of speaking in public.

But what about the opposite?  What would you do ~ what do you do, even though no one pays you for doing it?

Maybe volunteering somewhere.  Working with animals.  Helping in the Sunday School at your church.

For me, the #1 thing would have to be teaching my kids.  There are people who do this for a living, and I'm doing it for free.  And I don't mind it a bit.  Not that I would refuse.  But no one's offering, so I happily keep going.

We do a lot of things out of love.  Parents who have "special needs" children do what nurses or educators or therapists would do for money.  Grown kids caring for their elderly parents instead of paying a home to watch and care for them.  And even for those folks who have to turn over the care of a loved one to someone professional ~ how many of them would do it for free if they were able?

Do you know who Rick and Dick Hoyt are?  Team Hoyt, they call themselves.  Rick was born with cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair.  So Dick, his father, competes with him in triathlons and marathons, pushing him in his chair, pulling him in a boat, or riding with him on a special tandem bike.

Proof that loves enables us do do amazing things, and makes us happy to do it!

~ "Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things" ~
1 Corinthians 13:7
~

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