I quietly sneak in the house because I want to see what my family does in my absence. I have only been gone since the morning, but I miss their sweet faces and just want to watch them for minute. The little ones notice me first, “Mama’s HOME!” and one by one the family gathers in the kitchen to recap the happenings of the day.
An unusual day away for me, I spent the morning speaking to a group of woman at a church, and then met a few friends for a late lunch.
The kids did school and ran the house…business as usual. Life goes on whether I am here or not. I watch the sweet faces of my kids as they tell me about their day, and my list of “to do’s” nags in the back of my mind. As we stand in the kitchen talking, I mentally recap everything I need to do. Work never ends. It never stops demanding my attention.
Then I made a deliberate decision that I do not regret.
I decided to WASTE the rest of the day doing nothing with my family.
I silenced the voices of productivity for something better. We watched a movie as a family, snuggled on the couch and read a book, ate popsicles, and then went to bed.
Love tanks filled to the brim and over flowing. I deliberately chose to waste an evening’s worth of work, to love on my family.
A woman named Mary quietly walked into a busy house, knelt at Jesus’ feet and broke her alabaster flask. The cost of the flask was nearly a year’s wages.
All her earthly possessions contained in one bottle.
Poured out…wasted on the feet of Jesus.
Incredulous, the disciples listed all the ways the money from a flask of that value could be used! But now, it lay wasted covering Jesus’ feet! They could have divided it and sold part of it to help the poor, invested a portion of it, and saved the rest. What ever happened to prudence and financial wisdom?
But Jesus smiled at the woman. Her waste… beautiful in His sight. No one in the room understood but Him.
What others deemed as waste, He viewed as an offering.
A beautiful offering of her most valued possession.
In this age of productivity and multi tasking, time is the valued alabaster flask we covet.
Time is money.
We budget our time to squeeze as much work out of a day as physically possible. I believe when we sacrifice the rights to our time, to pour it out for others, He sees it as a beautiful waste…an offering to Him. Deliberately waste time looking in the eyes of a family member listening and talking.
Waste time playing with your children.
Waste an afternoon playing checkers at a retirement home.
Work unravels and piles up again. But the beautiful sacrifice of giving our most valued commodity to others is not wasted in the site of our Creator. He sees it as a beautiful offering.
Inspired to deliberately waste by author Kari Patterson in her devotional Plenty.
Laundry Mom~Terri♥
