{"id":146,"date":"2015-12-15T16:07:32","date_gmt":"2015-12-15T16:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/?p=146"},"modified":"2015-12-15T16:07:32","modified_gmt":"2015-12-15T16:07:32","slug":"working-for-the-good-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2015\/12\/working-for-the-good-things.html","title":{"rendered":"Working for the Good Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past weekend we had dinner at the home of one of our neighbors. They served an amazing meal with cuisine that would have outdone the finest restaurant.\u00a0 It was a lovely evening.\u00a0 But not surprisingly, all that food made for a lot of dirty dishes!\u00a0 At the end of the evening, I felt badly that we couldn\u2019t stay to help clean up.\u00a0 I apologized to our hostess who replied, \u201cDon\u2019t worry!\u00a0 You should have seen how many dishes I had to do at Thanksgiving.\u00a0 But I love<\/em> doing it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Wow. I wish I could say that I had the same attitude about our<\/em> recent Thanksgiving dinner.\u00a0 I still am not over the incredible amount of work that was involved in creating and cleaning up after that meal.\u00a0 Even now, when I walk by my kitchen sink, I have flashbacks like someone suffering from PTSD.<\/p>\n

To be honest, I don\u2019t think that our hostess loves<\/em> doing dishes.\u00a0 She is a sane, intelligent woman.\u00a0 Instead, what our hostess loves<\/em> is to create beautiful evenings for her family and friends in her home.\u00a0 She simply understands that dirty dishes are a natural part of that.\u00a0 She knows that when we have friends or family over for dinner, we bolster those relationships.\u00a0 We let the people in our life know how important they are to us by entertaining and feeding them.\u00a0 So when my dear hostess said that she loves<\/em> doing dishes, what she really meant is that she loves<\/em> having good relationships with other people.<\/p>\n

Our hostess had a big picture view of life from which we all could learn. The big picture is that if we want good things in life, there inevitably will be some drudgery involved in getting those things<\/em>.<\/p>\n

All good things in life require some humdrum work. For example, I want to have a happy marriage with my husband.\u00a0 As a result, I am willing to do boring tasks for him, such as washing his clothes and cooking his breakfast.\u00a0 Those little niceties make him feel cared for.\u00a0 He then in turn does things for me, like regularly cleaning my car and bringing me coffee on the weekends.\u00a0 Now of course, I could care for my own car, and he could do his own laundry.\u00a0 But by doing these things for each other<\/em>, our relationship becomes gentler.\u00a0 We are sweeter and kinder toward each other because we both feel cared for in practical ways by the other person.<\/p>\n

Another good thing that many of us want is a nice place to live. But if I want to have a beautiful home, there is some hard work involved in that.\u00a0 Bathrooms and kitchens don\u2019t clean themselves.\u00a0 Common family areas quickly become disaster areas if we don\u2019t tidy up daily.\u00a0 And our houses look messy with unmade beds.\u00a0 The beauty of a home has little to do with its size or cost.\u00a0 Rather, beautiful homes are the ones in which the inhabitants are willing to do the work to create a lovely environment.<\/p>\n

One of the most important things we can have in life is good health. Significantly, our health is a reflection of our habits.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care how great your genetics are, if you eat unhealthy food, smoke, and don\u2019t exercise, you ultimately will have health problems.\u00a0 Now if you exercise, eat healthy food and abstain from nicotine, that doesn\u2019t guarantee you won\u2019t have a health issue.\u00a0 But chances are, with good habits, you\u2019ll avoid many illnesses and still will be running around when you are 80.\u00a0 When it comes to our health, hard work always pays off.<\/p>\n

So the next time you feel frustrated by your To Do List, think about the bigger picture behind those tasks. What are you really achieving when you do them?\u00a0 Are you creating better relationships?\u00a0 Are you doing what is necessary for better health?\u00a0 Are you making your home more pleasant?\u00a0 When we look at our tasks with a larger view, suddenly those tasks feel less like drudgery and more like a worthwhile activity done toward a worthy end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past weekend we had dinner at the home of one of our neighbors. They served an amazing meal with cuisine that would have outdone the finest restaurant.\u00a0 It was a lovely evening.\u00a0 But not surprisingly, all that food made for a lot of dirty dishes!\u00a0 At the end of the evening, I felt badly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWorking for the Good Things - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Working for the Good Things - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This past weekend we had dinner at the home of one of our neighbors. 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