God of the Ordinary

On our flight home from China, I told Scott I was craving normalcy and routine. After weeks of anticipation (and anxiety) before our trip, and a long 17-day adventure across the world and back, I was ready to become a family of four and embrace the daily grind. Simple tasks like laundry, driving Carter to Mother's Day Out, and grocery shopping seemed refreshingly simple.

It didn't take very long after arriving home before I began dreading the chore of folding clean clothes. And resenting the number of times I have to scrub our kitchen table and booster seats in one day. And feeling drained trying to create new ideas for fun and entertainment for two toddlers.

The other day, I suddenly recalled a series of devotions I read in one of my seminary classes. I pulled out Devotional Classics edited by Richard J. Foster, and found the highlighted wise words penned by Kathleen Norris. Here are some tidbits I've pulled from her portion in the book:

"And it always seems that just when daily life seems most unbearable, stretching out before me like a prison sentence, when I seem most dead inside, reduced to mindlessness, bitter tears or both, that what is inmost breaks forth, and I realize that what had seemed 'dead time' was actually a period of gestation. It is a quotidian mystery that dailiness can lead to such despair and yet also be at the core of our salvation."

"Each day brings with it not only the necessity of eating but the renewal of our love of and in God."

"What we do of necessity can drag us down, and all too often the repetitive and familiar become not occasions for renewal, but dry, stale, lifeless activity. When washing dishes, I am no better than anyone else at converting the drudgery of the work into something better by means of playful abandon."

"The contemplative in me recognizes the sacred potential in the mundane task."

"Repetition is both as ordinary and necessary as bread, and the very stuff of ecstasy."

God gives us work to do. And whether it's at home, in an office, or even on the mission field, the work often involves repetition. Sometimes He's inviting us to play. Other times, the mindlessness of the task frees us to worship Him in the midst of our business. There are moments in the day when I long for leisure time that is all to myself. Freedom to curl up and read a book. Or catch up on blogs. Or watch Tivo'd episodes of my favorite shows. And then I am reminded that motherhood is my job right now. That's not to make it sound technical. Being a mother, and staying home with my kids, is a joy and fulfilled dream. But there are duties that come with the package...changing diapers, disciplining, cleaning up toys, preparing food for hungry mouths. Not to mention the sacrifice of self-denial. You can't always sleep, eat, or play when you want to.

When I want to escape from those responsibilities and mundane tasks for something more exciting or fulfilling, I have to remind myself that this work is just as important. When I feel like I must be missing my calling, that I can't possibly be impacting the world for Christ while scrubbing dishes in the kitchen sink, He whispers to me that He created this assignment for me. And He delights in revealing Himself to me in the ordinary. As Richard Foster notes, "If we fail to sanctify the ordinary we will be leaving God out of a large part of who we are and what we do."

As I reread the thoughts of Kathleen Norris, I was encouraged to embrace the mundane this week and find Him in those moments. In this season of my life, God has called me to be a stay-at-home mom of two toddlers. The days can be long. The work can be exhausting. The chores can seem endless. The time not my own. But when surrendered to Him, the rewards can be big. We don't have to search in a church service, in a Bible study, through a praise song, or at a big spiritual retreat to find Him. He can be found in every simple and common thing we do.