8.08.2012

Ordinary days made holy

On any given workday, this is my life in a nutshell:

12am - baby wakes, feed baby
3am - baby wakes, feed baby
5:30am - wake up, get ready for work, feed baby
6:15am - leave for work
6:30am - get on bus, read today's Bible verses from the #shereadstruth YouVersion plan, pray (or sleep. Or surf Facebook/Twitter)
7:15am - arrive at work, eat breakfast while checking emails
8:30am - pump, then back to work
12:00pm - pump, eat lunch, back to work
3:00pm - pump ( that's a dangerous word to misspell!) :)
3:45pm - leave work, catch my bus, take a nap or read on the way home
4:30pm - pick up J, have a snack while doing dishes and catching up on his day
5:00pm - Nana drops off S, attempt to entertain both while making dinner. (Or decide on takeout and play until Daddy gets home.) :) Feed baby when he gets cranky.
6:15pm - Hubby gets home, eat dinner, clean up
7:00pm - play outside/wrestle time/etc
7:30pm - bath time
8:00pm - feed baby, tuck kids in
8:30pm - put J back in bed (repeat a few times usually...)
9:00pm - get ready for tomorrow, watch tv, talk to the Hubby, or crash on the recliner
10:30pm - crawl into bed

This ordinary life, it's exhausting. There is very little "me" time or couple time. There is little time for housework or hobbies or seeing friends and family. And some days I'm just beat. Other days I remember to look with God's eyes on the important work and worship that is happening here. It is not easy. But Christ makes it worth it, makes me worthy, redeems the ordinary and makes it holy.

These days are meaningful because of Christ. Going to work is not just for the sake of gaining money, power, or success - it is to serve Christ, to love my coworkers and my family. Making dinner and feeding my baby are not just for survival, but to serve Christ, to nourish the bodies He gave us, to enjoy each other's company. The more I recognize Him in the menial, everyday things, the more my heart sees him, the more alive I become.

I've been mulling over Romans 12:1-3 from the Message translation:

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him." (emphasis mine)

I have a question for you, friends -- do you struggle to see your everyday tasks as worship? How can we consciously offer our ordinary days to God?

Peace...

2 comments:

  1. You are lovely and wonderful and I am proud to know you. Thanks for this post - I needed a reminder of holy tonight.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, sweet friend! This mommy thing is hard and incredible. You are beautiful and kind and the perfect mama to your S. :) ::hugs::

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