“I feel like I do the same thing every single day, day in and day out but no one seems to respect what I am doing.” I told my husband as I was folding yet another load of laundry. I had just finished cleaning the pee off of the toilet yet again. There was a wet towel and clothes laying on the floor, a reminder to me that someone took a shower but didn’t take the time to follow through with putting their clothes in the dirty clothes and hanging up their towel. “I just feel like this isn’t worth it…taking the time to clean up after them when I know they are going to mess it up again the next time they use the bathroom or they are going to leave a mess in the kitchen when they go to get something to eat. I just feel like I am the only one that cares what our home looks like and the only one that takes pride in it.”

We all do it. We all are guilty of it. We all place our identity in something or someone. We are all surrounded by others who identify as something or someone they weren’t created or designed to be. We expect others to respect the decision we have made and when they don’t we grow annoyed. What we place our identity in becomes an idol in our lives. It’s the idol of self. Think about the way you respond to others or others respond to you when things don’t go the way you or they thought they should go. We whine. We complain. We become angry. We demand others to respect us and our decision. We grow annoyed when they disrupt our lives. It’s a constant battle of wanting to do what makes us happy and what will become the kingdom of our lives.

We are not at the center of the universe. Life wasn’t created or designed to bring us glory. It wasn’t made for our happiness or contentment. The earth and everything in it was created to bring honor and glory to God. What was the first sin that was committed? Adam and Eve did what would bring them happiness. They wanted to pleased themselves. They didn’t care that they were living in perfection. God had created a perfect world, free of sin. Free of sadness. Free from working. Free of death. A place that was perfection. They were created to praise and worship The Lord yet they wanted to do what pleased themselves. They wanted a self centered world instead of a Christ centered one. Life was forever changed from that moment on. We were now a self centered people that no longer had a desire to worship The Lord. We want to do what we want to do no matter what.

As we navigate each day, we see the result of the first sin they committed. We feel it the second our eyes open in the morning. What’s the first thought that pops into your head? “Ugh, I am not ready to be up yet. Last night was a long night. I didn’t sleep well.” How do we respond to others when they ask us how we are? What is typically the answer we give them? How everything is going against us? How terrible life is? How disobedient our children are? How awful our job is? Often we complain to others about how disrupted our lives are instead of choosing to share the blessings The Lord has given us. What does complaining do? What response are we hoping to get from people when we complain? We list off things that are going wrong instead of being grateful that we woke up to our hearts beating and our lungs breathing. Things that we don’t even have to think about yet because of those two little things, we are still alive.

“You know that when you complain about things that the children see it, right?” He said to me. He wasn’t saying it to make me feel small or belittled. He was doing it to point out the fact that when I choose to have a heart that complains and is self centered, that it then results in the children thinking it’s okay to do the same thing. It becomes another cycle of raising children that are making themselves idols in their own lives. It’s so easy to choose to complain, it’s easy to choose to have a grumbling attitude. It’s not easy to choose a good attitude or a happy heart. When we focus on ourselves, we tell The Lord that we know better than He does. We were designed to worship Him in all things. Every single moment of every single day. Our identity isn’t in our husband. It’s not in our children. It’s not in our job. It’s not in our home. It’s not in our car or the dream vacation we want to take. Our identity is in The Lord and our primary purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.