On tap for today is cleaning the kitchen. I don’t think I’m going to get the work done as well as usual. We’re moving in a few weeks, and the houses are being demolished, so leaving the cabinets spotless isn’t necessary. It seems a bit pointless to spend several hours scrubbing and cleaning if I only get to enjoy it for a short time. I’m going to try to get the fridge and stove done, though. But most important is the sorting and organizing that has been put off. Ugh.

I didn’t get much work done yesterday. I was babysitting a neighbor’s daughter. Her son was having surgery and she and her husband were at the hospital all day.

I’m falling way behind in a book that Bill and I are reading for Lent: The Power of the Cross by Michael Dubruiel. The only chance we have to do it is at night, but we’ve both been so exhausted that even if we manage to stay awake for the 10 – 15 minutes it takes to do a day’s reading, our comprehension levels are at a pretty low level. In other words, it’s doing nothing for us.

But a few days ago, there was the following quote:

But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:22-23

And the discussion question that followed was: What does it mean to be a slave to God?

Slaves don’t have a choice in their work. They do as they are told. Their time is not their own, their labor is all at the bidding of the master. Their “free” time is not a right, but a privilege.

Being a slave to God means doing the work that needs doing whether we like it or not. So, Bill is happy that these neighbors will likely move at the end of the summer, because he thinks it means that it is one less person who will say “Help!” and turn to me, his wife, for that help. I think he thinks I do too much. And I do have trouble saying no, even if it means I won’t get my spring cleaning done or I’ll have to forego attending a monthly meeting that I want to attend.

But I told him that there will always be people who need help, so having these needy neighbors move away won’t change much. He could move me to rural Wyoming and as long as I have an internet connection and access to a post office, I’ll fill my days with some activity or another (care packages for the troops or something). Because I’m a slave to God. And there are times that it isn’t much fun.

Work will make you free. Thank God.