Peace In the Labor

"Purpose is found in those quiet moments when no one but God sees the work of your hands" - Darlene Schacht

Recently a Facebook friend posted an article discussing how when raising a family, life is not always about a "fair" work load among the parents.  Now when I had originally read this article I felt indignant.  I understood it to mean: Life is not fair. It's your job, so deal with it and quit whining.  What!?  How dare some random blogger tell me that my feelings/stress/workload are insignificant.  My job is 24/7, no sick days, or vacations.  Although I love my children I strongly dislike laundry, budget making, dishes, cooking and cleaning as a chore. And truth be told, a girl deserves a shower! Hmph.
But then....
I came across this article: Embracing Your Own Cross.  And the title quote struck me:

“If we all threw our crosses in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.”

Part of me thinks that it was fated for me to stumble upon both of these on the same day.  I started to rethink my knee jerk reaction to the first article.  Is this my cross? Truly, where is my burden?  Where within myself do I feel the need to fairly balance the daily requirements of my homemaking?  Why do I feel this way?

I assure you my burden is not in my labor, it's in my perspective.

If I have honestly chosen the care and raising of my family as my vocation, my perspective needs tweaking.  No where in the definition of dedication or faithfulness does it mention fairness.  As much as a I had to surrender my body to laboring in childbirth, so I must surrender my spirit to the joyful purpose of my vocation.  In this life and the next the rewards are unparalleled.

"Similarly, older women should behave as befits religious people, with no scandal-mongering and no addiction to wine -- they must be the teachers of right behavior and show younger women how they should love their husbands and love their children, how they must be sensible and chaste, and how to work in their homes, and be gentle, and obey their husbands, so that the message of God is not disgraced." - Titus 2:3-5