Ordinary

Joy in the Mundane

Col 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Working for the Lord is always good. It may be mundane, ordinary kind of tasks that he has for us but there is always joy to be found in the service of the Lord.

Ordinary Days

I would like it if my house always looked like this.

But the fact of the matter is, it looks like this most of the time.

I am a stay-at-home, homeschool mother of four and we live in our house. We eat all day long. We sit on our couch, and we play in and outside of our house all day long. My good work that the Lord has prepared for me is caring for my family. That means cooking, doing countless dishes, endless laundry and constantly picking up and straightening the house.

It’s the same ordinary work that countless women have done before me. I could look at it as drudgery and be resentful at my family for constantly making a mess of my clean house but, that would be putting things out of order. Having a clean, well-organized house, while good and nice, is not the most important work for me to do. Teaching my children is the best work and making sure they are will fed and able to one day function in this world as capable adults without me is the priority.

Now I do try to keep a clean, pretty home but I don’t want to attain that at the expense of my family. Who wants a pretty house that no one can touch?

Put here for a Purpose

Our life, which is a gift from God, is not meaningless and void. He has created us and put us in the time and place that we live to accomplish His perfect will.

I recently read through Esther again and though it sounds cliche to say, Mordecai’s words to Esther are important for us to remember too. Esther 4:14 “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” [emphasis mine] In Acts 17:26 we find that to be the exact case, “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,”. [emphasis mine] Here Paul is teaching the people of Athens about the one true God that they worshipped as “unknown”.

I find it so comforting to know that the God who made all things and knit me together perfectly in my mother’s womb, also hems me in the right time and place that I should be. (Ps. 139) We were created with a plan and a purpose.

Ordinary Miracles

Our pastor gave a sermon on Acts 19:11 which I found so encouraging. In Acts it says, “And God was doing extraordinary miracle by the hands of Paul,”. Our pastor mentioned that because the passage marks this was an “extraordinary” miracle, we can understand that there must be ordinary miracles. I think so many of us get caught up in wanting to be used “extra”-ordinarily that we forget or overlook the ordinary.

There are ordinary miracles that the Lord works in our everyday ordinary lives. He uses ordinary, faithful people just doing their ordinary, mundane tasks to work his ordinary miracles every day. “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'” Matt. 25:40

Something our pastor pointed out was that Paul was not doing anything out of the ordinary. He was making tents, working at ordinary things. He was faithfully preaching to the people and just doing his normal everyday job. It was nothing about Paul that worked the miracles. It was only because it was the will of the Lord to work in this way that it happened at all. Paul wasn’t asking to be used in an extraordinary, supernatural way. He was just being a faithful servant of the Lord. Which is what we are all called to be.

Faithful servants

We are called from the darkness of sin and death (Col. 1:12-14) to be faithful servants of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Eph 2:10 says “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” [emphasis mine] We are called with a purpose. He has good works prepared for all of us.

The phrase “good works” is used 13 times in the New Testament and 6 of those times are in the book of Titus.

Titus 2:11-14 says “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” [emphasis mine] Then in chapter 3 Paul encourages us to “be ready for every good work.” (vs. 1) [emphasis mine] being devoted to good works which is profitable for people (vs. 8) and again in vs. 14 be devoted to “good works so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.” [emphasis mine]

Seasons of Good Works

In Ecc. 3 we read that there is a time and a season for all things. The seasons of motherhood are each beautiful and full of good works. The work is not always the same and sometimes it is. There will always be dishes to wash, laundry to fold and floors to be swept.

But the season of rocking my babies and changing diapers has passed for me now.

My days are not full of potty training and constantly cleaning spilled milk. Now we have science experiments cluttering the kitchen table.

Cut fingers from learning how to whittle and teaching my youngest how to keep his toys organized. But most of all teaching and training them in the love and admonition of the Lord my savior.

This season will soon pass as well, and my children will no longer be at home. But that does not mean my work is done. With each new season brings new tasks to complete. My days will not be full of equipping my children for their lives, but I look forward to whatever work the Lord will bring for me in that time.

Our work is ordinary but through our normal everyday lives the Lord works extraordinary miracles. Through our faithful deeds of service, we can meet the need of those around us. And through our faithful living of the gospel, the Holy Spirit changes the hearts of those around us. Which I think is the greatest miracle of all.