Duty Before Pleasure

When my girls were little, I used to read to them from a book titled "The King's Daughter and Other Stories for Girls". One of the stories that have always stayed with me is titled, "Duty and Pleasure" and it always comes to mind on days like yesterday. I had so much housework that needed my attention but I was tired from a long, busy weekend and there were other more exciting things that I wanted to do. Over and over in my mind I kept saying, "duty before pleasure, duty before pleasure, duty before pleasure......" . It made me determined to get all the housework finished before doing the other things I was wanting to do, so I sat down and made a list of everything that needed to be done. I wrote this on my white board that I have on my refrigerator so I would be sure to see it and be able to check off things as I went along. I was able to finish everything by noon and was so proud of my accomplishments. Now that I had the things done I needed to do, I could enjoy the things I wanted to do without feeling guilty.