It's All About Attitude

Today we cleaned cabins for the campers who are coming this weekend. Last weekend had over 400 campers, so we basically had to clean every bathroom and organize every bed at camp. We started at 7:00 AM and finished at 8:00 PM.

At first the cleaning wasn't that bad. Cleaning toilets and showers used by high schoolers wasn't the most desirable task, but it was manageable. We had music to listen to and the mood was light. It wasn't until around 11 AM that my attitude was tested.

After cleaning several cabins, I started to list 300 reasons why I shouldn't be cleaning a summer camp dormitory. Every once in a while I would focus on the fact that my purpose here is to glorify God, but this didn't help much. It wasn't until I texted the following to a friend, "I've been cleaning bathrooms all morning. Very humbling." His response was, "At least you're not cleaning your Outlook inbox."

My friend's simple response was eye opening. It caused me to look back 8 months ago, when I was receiving and responding to 100 emails per day. Back then I would have paid you to let me go clean a bathroom.

I began to think about a Bible passage I had read this morning. Philippians 2 says,


'³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.' 


This verse took care of my thoughts around why I shouldn't be cleaning bathrooms. Later in the same chapter Paul writes, '


¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”^[c] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.'

God was showing me that joy didn't come from the task I was doing. The joy I was looking for comes from doing my work for the glory of God. It doesn't matter if I'm answering emails for clients or cleaning a dirty toilet. After lunch God allowed me to rest on this. Pretty sure I would have been fine digging a ditch with this 'refreshed' state of mind. My prayer is that God will continue to work this concept into my heart.

On a lighter note, I was able to go fishing with Uncle Jim and Mike this past weekend. Below are some pictures of our adventure.