What is a good deed?
Angela had surgery last Wednesday and was released from the hospital on Friday. She's been recovering at home since then and will be off from work for three weeks.
She divides her time between the bed and the recliner, and needs help with just about everything. I've been bathing her, helping her get dressed, making sure she's surrounded by the proper number of pillows at all times, and making sure she has an ample supply of water and pills nearby. Anytime she wants to get out of the recliner, I'm the one who enables her by putting the footrest down. She can't strain, which means I must do all the straining for her.
I've found so far that all of this is quite enjoyable. Of course I would love for Angela to be full-strength, but when she's not I don't mind sacrificing my own pursuits in order to take care of her.
This sparked an interesting conversation. I know that God wills for all of us to take care of each other. But since, in this case, it comes so naturally for me, does it count? It seems to me that the best good deeds are the ones that require us to go above and beyond the call of duty. This is simply the call of duty. This is my spouse, and it's part of the "for better or for worse, in sickness and in health" vow that we took several years ago. It just goes without saying.
Perhaps this is the point that God wants us to reach with everyone. Maybe God wants our desire to help to be so effortless that it becomes part of our daily routine and becomes a reflex more than a concentrated initiation. This requires denying ourselves to some extent, and being willing to drop everything in order to help at the exact moment we're needed.
We may not get as much accomplished (and for an annoyingly uber-driven person like me that can be hard to take), but the fulfillment involved with focusing energy outward rather than inward seems to outweigh all else. Perhaps I'm only beginning to realize the depth.
She divides her time between the bed and the recliner, and needs help with just about everything. I've been bathing her, helping her get dressed, making sure she's surrounded by the proper number of pillows at all times, and making sure she has an ample supply of water and pills nearby. Anytime she wants to get out of the recliner, I'm the one who enables her by putting the footrest down. She can't strain, which means I must do all the straining for her.
I've found so far that all of this is quite enjoyable. Of course I would love for Angela to be full-strength, but when she's not I don't mind sacrificing my own pursuits in order to take care of her.
This sparked an interesting conversation. I know that God wills for all of us to take care of each other. But since, in this case, it comes so naturally for me, does it count? It seems to me that the best good deeds are the ones that require us to go above and beyond the call of duty. This is simply the call of duty. This is my spouse, and it's part of the "for better or for worse, in sickness and in health" vow that we took several years ago. It just goes without saying.
Perhaps this is the point that God wants us to reach with everyone. Maybe God wants our desire to help to be so effortless that it becomes part of our daily routine and becomes a reflex more than a concentrated initiation. This requires denying ourselves to some extent, and being willing to drop everything in order to help at the exact moment we're needed.
We may not get as much accomplished (and for an annoyingly uber-driven person like me that can be hard to take), but the fulfillment involved with focusing energy outward rather than inward seems to outweigh all else. Perhaps I'm only beginning to realize the depth.
posted by Jen Austin at 9:24 AM
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