like a boss…

Today is Player 2’s birthday. He’s excited, but this is also new to him as this is the first birthday he has experienced with us. He is greeted by decorations in the morning that we put up the night before. I make his requested breakfast: breakfast burritos with tater tots inside. We talk about the cake we will bake for him and when he will get to open all his gifts. And we chat about the friends he will get to see tomorrow to celebrate with him.

And then life goes on as normal. Kitchen needs to be cleaned up. I have some work to do on my computer. The big kids have a few things to get done. And Player 1 is already on to his game of choice: Rocket League. Player 2 isn’t sure what to do at this point. So he seeks me out and follows me into the studio space where I am trying to focus on a social media schedule that I am putting together for a client.

He sits by me. Then he makes up a game that he wants to play with all the balloons that are scattered around the house. That are now in my studio. Then he says he wants to do math and gets out some math manipulatives which lasts for about 3 minutes. He’s keeping a running commentary as he is doing all of these things. There is no quiet. I interact as I can, trying to get my brain to work in one direction while answering questions from another direction.

Then he goes to the bathroom. And promptly clogs the toilet. He shares with me the size of his “brown trout” explaining that the size is the reason for the clog.

FABULOUS.

So I head into the bathroom to find that the water is up to the top and that by putting the necessary plunger into the toilet bowl will cause a waterfall of sorts. Not a beautiful waterfall. A somewhat fecal waterfall. Fortunately, the trout was pretty solid so there was very little particulate. However, it hurt my heart and stomach to start plunging and watching the waterfall over the sides of the toilet.

Trout dislodged, water went down, all the water was sopped up and everything was sanitized.

I get back to work. He gets distracted with the balloons in another room. I finish my work and send it off with an explanation as to why it might not be my best work at this point but will clean it up as we go along. My client laughed and then expressed her pleasure in my work, despite the distractions.

There are days when I think that I cannot do this. I cannot maintain a pleasant and mostly organized household with 4 children (although one is technically an adult), a husband, and the part time work that I do. On those days I do not want to get out of bed because if I can’t do something well, then I don‘t want to do it at all.

Then there are the days when I wake up and say to myself, “I am going to get up and do all the things that I can do to the best of my abilities. I will make some savage breakfast burritos. I will type up ideas like I am on fire. I will unclog that toilet like I own it!” Technically, I do own it so I’m not sure what my point was there….

This whole, “best of my abilities” is something that comes to mind on a regular basis. Sometimes I forget about it and then God somehow reminds me and I’m motivated to perform at the best I can give again.

1 Corinthians 10:31 is my butt-kicking verse for this: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

So not just eating and drinking, but WHATEVER you do. That’s like everything. Or anything. All things - do for the glory of God.

Colossians 3: 23 also tells us, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”

Again with the WHATEVER you do.

And if I’m doing it as working for the Lord, then I will absolutely do it to the best of my abilities. I mean, it’s GOD!

So when I wake up in the morning, I have this little nagging phrase that sits there until I acknowledge it - “Do it to the best of your abilities, as unto the Lord.”

So when I work, or make dinner, or interact with my kids, or unclog a toilet, it is something I will try to do to the best of my abilities so that when I am done, I can say, “ I unclogged that toilet like a boss!

(Again, I’m not sure what that would look like. Does a boss unclog the toilet with a lot of gusto? Or maybe with a suit and tie and really expensive shoes? Or maybe while also on the phone with a client? Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s super awesome and that’s me: Super Awesome Toilet Unclogger.)