A new outlook

I have a confession to make, the Proverbs 31 section has always, well, irriated me. Here's the problem I had, in verse 15 it talks of how the lady will rise early to prepare food for her family, and her servants. I was lost right there, if all of this was being accomplished by a woman who had servants at her beck and call, then there was no way I would be able to ever measure up. Then, this weekend I was blessed with reading Crystal's newsletter. In this month's edition she wrote a wonderful article about kitchen appliances being servants. Almost instantly (it does take a moment for me to register things) I was hit with the realization that servants do NOT have to be people! Oh my goodness, if only I had thought of this years ago (granted, I probably was not ready for this realization years ago). This little discovery stayed with me through today and as I was talking to my daughter this morning about buying a bread machine (no, I have not, but I really do want one) it hit me again. I have so many servants already, and do I appreciate them? Usually not. For example, my dear husband bought me a great new blender for Christmas and it has never even come out of the box. It's very cool looking and I really did need a new one, but I did not appreciate his gift enough to find uses for it. I have a huge wonderful crockpot that was a gift from a very dear friend (who I have not seen in years and I do miss her) that I could really be getting some use out of by having dinner ready for us when we get home and the kitchen already cleaned, but do I use my time wisely and do these things? Nope, instead I try to throw together something when I get home and wonder why my family has not been thoughtful enough to do this without my asking them to. I also have in my "staff" an awesome stand mixer that was another gift from my husband and I rarely use because it is heavy and I don't like lugging it around. If I would make a home for it on the counter where it belongs, I would not have to lug it anywhere. However, the servants are not only in the kitchen, I have a wonderful washer & dryer set that are HE front loaders, and I could have all of our laundry done in just a few loads a day. Instead, it piles in the bedrooms, bathroom and laundry area and I curse my wonderful machines that they don't sort and fold the laundry as well. So, what am I doing with my newfound outlook? Well, My washer and dryer are running very efficently today, because I keep giving them new tasks to do (every servant needs a plan to follow) and I am looking for crockpot recipes (on the internet, what better servant for a household than that?) that I can prepare in the morning before work (I don't leave the house until 11 most mornings so I have plenty of time) and have dinner bubbling away while I clean up the kitchen. This will also lead me to be more efficent with our resources (another Proverbs 31 lesson) and more self-suffiecent because we won't need to pay other to create a not-so-healthy dinner for us. While these are a good start, I also like the idea that my mindset has been updated. I have learned many things from Crystal, but have never had such an ah-ha moment as this one.