I HAVE TO vs I GET TO...

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

I have to vs I get to…

The more I thought about what I get to do, the less I realized I had to do. It was just a shift, just a new perspective, just a new and more grateful method for labeling the things in my life. Think about it—if you stopped yourself every single time you were about to say, “I have to” and changed it to “I get to,” it might change your entire experience. – Kristin Armstrong

A friend posted this on facebook this morning. In my quest for ways to change my negatives to positives, I need all the help I can get. Frankie my counselor told me to change my “I can’t” to “I want to” and that has been very eye opening. It always makes me smile, because that little girl in there says I can’t a lot and rebels when I try to change it to “I want to”.  That little switch is like a light to show me the truth of my thinking.

 “I just can’t handle this” turns into “I want to handle this” and somehow clarifies what “this” is… or pulls me up short, reminding me that I am putting everything into one big pile again.  Just like a pile of leaves, you can’t bag them all at once. But certainly you can bag them an armload/ rake load at a time, and eventually you will get them all, at least until more fall from the tree.  What I am looking for, I realize, is a Magic Wand or a Magic Nose (think, “Bewitched”) that will make it all go away without any effort.

So today I get to clean the kitchen. Hey, I have a kitchen! I have dishes, and food to eat, God has blessed me abundantly! And I get to do laundry. I have a washing machine and a dryer. I am not going down to the river to rub the clothes on the rocks and spread them on the bushes to dry, or heating a big pot of water in the back yard– or even running them through the ringer!  I get to clean the carpet. I can use a vacuum cleaner! I have a carpet– a house! Lord You have indeed provided for me in amazing ways. Forgive me for looking at things through a negative filter. This morning you have given me so many reasons to rejoice.

And the main reason to rejoice is that  YOU, the Creator of the Universe, love me. You loved a sinner like David and called him a man after your own heart. You have taken a negative, whiny, self centered sinner like me and DIED to pay the penalty for my sins. Amazing. Humbling. Incredible.