So. I planned to write a short series about “time” this week but one very ironic obstacle is standing in my way. Guess what it is?
{Why don’t they offer a marriage and mothering major in college?}
Sometimes it even feels like a cosmic joke that I am perhaps least equipped and gifted for the roles that consume most of my energy and time. Now that my kids are all in school, you’d think it would be easier. It is and it isn’t. If anything, I now have the responsibility to live these roles like I’ve needed to all along because for the first time, I have the time. I have far fewer excuses to be slack. Dang it.
He delights to meet our daily needs and never begrudges the task. And because we’re made in His image and alive with His power, we can find delight instead of mere duty as we serve those who need us in the day-to-day.
The Bible is full of evidence that God’s attention is indeed fixed on the little things. But this is not because God is a Great Cosmic Cop, eager to catch us in minor transgressions, but simply because God loves us–loves us so much that the divine presence is revealed even in the meaningless workings of daily life. It is in the ordinary, the here-and-now, that God asks us to recognize that the creation is indeed refreshed like dew-laden grass that is “renewed in the morning” {Ps 90:5}, or to put it in more personal and also theological terms, “our inner nature is being renewed every day” {2 Cor 4:16}. Seen in this light, what strikes many modern readers as the ludicrous attention to details in the book of Leviticus, involving God in the minutiae of daily life–all the cooking and cleaning of a people’s domestic life–might be revisioned as the very love of God. A God who cares so much as to desire to be present to us in everything we do.
If today or this week or this season feels dedicated to things that don’t measure high on the desirability meter, may God grant you a “revisioning” to glimpse the marvelous in the mundane.
As each day brings new messes as well as new mercies, may you see the reflection of renewal in both.
Whatever today holds, whether it feels woefully empty or much too full, I pray that His love and presence will be manna for your spirit.
” . . . when I receive the rhythms and responsibilities as God-authored, I’m surprised by gratitude, even in the midst of need.”
” . . . may God grant you a “revisioning” to glimpse the marvelous in the mundane.”
Ah, dear one, you have become Ann’s (just three letters, without even an “e”) sister. Remember the soap bubble at the kitchen sink?
LYF,
MOM
“But when I receive the rhythms and responsibilities as God-authored, I’m surprised by gratitude, even in the midst of real need.” The needs in my house are so great! How can one mom keep up? But somehow God gives me exactly what I need each day, with lots of reminders to be thankful in the midst of those (often pressing) responsibilities. I’m learning to let the rhythm of each day flow as it’s supposed to-hard for me to do, but it makes life so much sweeter.
Girl, it seems your week is about like mine. My daily round trip to school is 80 (yes 80) miles per day. Two hours in the car. Plus the laundry folding, housekeeping, and trying to nap occasionally plus consulting and photography. This week I’m just tired. I miss you. Apple Orchard photos killed me. Lisa and Julie T had them up too. I love you….julie
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