Hands and Feet Club

For about two months now our house has been under construction and so there has been an endless stream of  contractors, electricians, plumbers, dry wall men, tile guys, and painters living in our home during the day. The bathroom on the main floor of the house is the one that they all use. Let me say that I have struggled with germs my entire life. My husband uses the term "phobia" to describe my attitude and he would be correct. I have a phobia of germs.

I enjoy cleaning my house because it is therapeutic for me to wipe away the germs. However, when other people use my bathroom I struggle to even walk in the room more or less clean it. So, imagine how heightened my phobia has been since countless men have been in and out of my bathroom every day. It has been extreme.

To help me cope, I have made that bathroom off limits to my family, and I came up with a system where I will clean the bathroom from top to bottom throughout the week in order to keep it semi-clean. However, coping mechanism and all, I still have to give myself a rousing pep-talk before I can walk in the bathroom to clean it. I  remind myself that in this small way I am trying to serve and minister to the construction workers. I remind myself of my need to be the hands and feet of Christ to them (I even started my own club, the Hands and Feet Club, I'm a nerd, I know!). Being a part of this imaginary club, helps me have the same attitude of Christ Jesus who humbled himself and became a servant (Philippians 2: 5,7). While quoting the Philippians 2 passage to myself, I hold my breath and scrub the toilet.

Recently, the thought occurred to me that I never give myself a pep-talk before doing something for my husband. Granted, cleaning up after him does not bother me, but I want to be the hands and feet of Christ to him just as much as I do to the strangers using my bathroom. So, I prayed, "God, please show me how I can serve Jason just as Jesus served others."

It didn't take the Lord long to show me that while I do a majority of the cooking and cleaning (by choice) in our marriage - there are certain things like taking out the trash and yard work that I have never done in our marriage. Yet, would it bless Jason if I spend an afternoon pulling weeds or emptied all the garbage bins for him? Of course it would (and to be honest, I'd have to give myself a rousing pep-talk before emptying the children's diaper containers - Yuck). Going further, I could let Jason sleep in while I get the children dressed and fed in the morning. I could wash his car, change a light bulb, kill the unwanted indoor spider, and walk our dog. Again, not many of these are as "scary" to me as walking into a germ-filled bathroom, but they would require sacrifice on my part. A sacrifice of my time, my energy, my sleep, and my routines. 99% of the time they would most likely go unnoticed and so I wouldn't be doing it for his praise, but I would do it to be the hands and feet of Christ to my husband. To serve him just as Jesus served. To minister to his needs in big and small ways.

Are you in the Hands and Feet Club by serving and ministering to your husband?