Chores can be defined as a routine task, especially a household one. We can approach a chore as a duty or task we’re obligated to perform, one that is perhaps unpleasant but necessary.
Many of us grew up with chores as part of our upbringing. They often ranged from doing dishes to running the vacuum or taking out the trash. Sometimes, these chores were connected to an allowance we received for doing these various jobs. Even as we got older and entered into our adult years, chores remained a part of our lives. Being older, we realized they were an important and necessary part of our lives. Perhaps, as time moved on and we became parents, we began to teach our children the importance of such routine tasks as a way of helping to build responsible individuals within a family setting.
Of course, this doesn’t make doing chores any more appealing; it’s just a part of life that must be accomplished. Our motivation in doing chores can range from avoiding a scolding and suspension of one’s allowance as a child, to realizing the necessity of such activity as an adult.
As I considered the definition of the word chores, I began to think of the various chores around the house and additional chores in caring for a family member in need of assistance in life’s daily routines. Some of these chores were unpleasant, but necessary and needed to be accomplished often throughout the day. I thought to myself that there had to be a higher motivation than simply accomplishing a “necessary task.” I thought of Jesus and His call to love one another. What better way of expressing love than elevating chores to acts of love!
Acts of love can be defined as “gestures or actions demonstrating affection, kindness and care toward another person, which can be small like a kind word or a more significant action such as caring for an ill family member.” As I went about the various chores in helping my ill family member, it occurred to me that whatever the task, it should be lifted up as an act of love. I wish I could say that such a transition was instantaneous, as it is a constant work in progress!
Over time, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I pray each action done in helping to increase the quality of life for my family member will become an act of love.
Whether it be doing the laundry, fixing a meal or attending to their personal needs, may God’s grace motivate me to do all as an act of love, the love that Jesus calls me, and all of us, to live.
How about you? As you consider your own life chores, will you simply plow through them – or perhaps, with God’s grace, turn them into various acts of love?
Deacon James H. Rocks, Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish, Collingswood.
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