...I couldn't do that.

There are jobs most of us don't think we can do. I never thought I could manage a household with eight kids. I did. No one starved, laundry got done, no one missed anything important. Now that has changed and we have six kids, even some days I don't think I can do this job, but day after day it gets done. I've had to learn to delegate, let things go, and take care of myself. I can do it.

I know a lot of people who have jobs that I don't want to do. Our pastor has one such job. Wouldn't want it. Of course he was called to do that job and is quite good at it. Doesn't make me want it any more. Don't want to be a missionary in Africa, or anywhere else for that matter.

I used to be ticked off when people would say "I couldn't do that." I would think, yes you could, you just don't want to. I know it was a compliment they were giving, but it didn't feel like one. I've since changed my attitude on the whole thing. When people tell me they couldn't do what I do, I want to tell them all that they are missing by not doing it.

If you have a job that people don't think they can do, it's probably because you don't have a job, but a calling. You see it from a different view, you don't see the work involved, you see the blessing that come to you. Our pastor has had the privilege to see thousands of lives changed. I can guess that those people are the reason he shows up to work everyday, not the enormous amount of work and stress that goes with it.

If I were to focus on the crying, screaming, constant stress that I am under, I would quit this job in a minute. It pays crap, I have to worry about how I am parenting these born of the heart children, if I slap a mosquito off of their face did someone see it and turn me in for smacking the kids around? So, I have to make a note that at precisely 11:14 on Tuesday morning I slapped a bug off of child A's face. I choose to focus on the blessings. My family has saved three children from two and a half years of foster care. When baby boy says "I love you," or when I notice that little middle boy is waking up with a "good morning mom," and not screaming bloody murder, that's my payoff. I get a thousand kisses, I am well band-aided at all times. I'm probably storing some treasure in heaven, but I am blessed.

So, next time you notice someone doing a job you don't think you could do, look it from another view. Don't look at the work you'd have to do, but rather the blessings you might be missing.