I rose with groggy eyes after waking through the night to feed a child I love. The day ahead holds a long list of things to do, such as changing diapers, feeding toddlers, school drop-offs, homework checking, folding laundry, and preparing meals. Everything ahead comes without fanfare and can often feel mundane. Sometimes, I can feel lost in the repetitive nature of my work in my home. I often wonder if any of this really matters. So many others are doing bigger, better, more lucrative, and glamorous things with their time. After all, most of us don’t look forward to another round of laundry being completed, and almost no one else sees this work that I am busy doing from morning until night.
Maybe your work feels similar, a job serving others with little thanks offered. You could be busy doing the same task over and over every day. Changing tires, flipping burgers, cleaning floors, or making deliveries. So many of us spend our days stuck in the simplicity of our routines. Even though this by far is the norm, social media and the success-obsessed narrative of our culture tell us ordinary is not enough. As followers of Christ, we are also drawn to make more out of our lives. We know that God has made us on purpose, but sometimes, we confuse God’s calling for us with the cultural idea that success is what gives our lives meaning!
The real truth of the Bible is that God makes beauty out of all we do; we are his masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10). His call is to live a faithful life, not a successful one (Proverbs 28:20). Every bit of our work is to be done unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23-24). As Christ's followers, every day, task, and detail of our days has value because we are God’s temple. We are walking, working, and worshipping as beacons of God's light in big and small ways every day in this world (1 Corinthians 6:19).
In the Simple and Unseen Moments, Our Character Grows
In a world where our highlight reels define us, it’s hard to see the value in the less Instagram-worthy moments, yet those are the times when God does his best work.
Jesus, during his ministry, rebuked the religious elite for parading around while they fasted and prayed (Matthew 6:16-18), saying they received their reward in full but putting their every good work on display. He wanted more than a spectacle from his followers. He wants our hearts. Our character shows up in the unglamorous moments we spend doing the same simple thing to the best of our ability.
No matter what your day job is, you have opportunities to give, serve, pray, and love without being seen. It’s in the ordinary that we practice obedience. When we do our best in the simple unseen moments, when we live with the fruits of the spirit when no one is giving us praise, and practice humility and service for no other reason than God’s love compels us, that's when God sees the true nature of our hearts. He is looking for those who are faithful in the small things to bless (Luke 16:10).
We Are Living Sacrifices Unto the Lord
God called us to offer our lives as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) as a means of worship to our worthy God. This means that we are called to use whatever we have been given as a gift that we can thank God for.
The truth of the gospel is that God often promises to be with us through our trials, through the endless repetition of many of our days, because we have a just us story to tell wherever we have been placed. God’s word says he knows the time and place of each of our lives (Acts 17:20). Our lives are as they are to give us and those around us the best possible chance of knowing Jesus. That means your job waiting tables is not by mistake! It’s a calling, it’s a place to live with integrity, and to share God’s love.
One of the most amazing modern examples of living in the light despite circumstances that feel like enough is from Anthony Hinton. In his book The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Freedom on Death Row, he tells a tragic but entirely true story of being falsely convicted and spending most of his life on death row, stuck in an unjust system. While he feels anger and pain and suffers greatly, the Lord meets him. He finds a way to make his tiny cell a place where God can be found, a light in literally one of the darkest places in this world. That’s the power of the gospel at work. God transforms all we do into holy work.
In God’s Kingdom, We Are Called to Live with Grateful Hearts
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” Giving thanks in all circumstances can be one of the hardest and truly most counter-cultural things we can do. Our world says whatever we have is not enough, we should always be striving for me. But God asks us to live with contentment and practice daily thanksgiving.
What in your life do you see as a burden that God may want you to find a way to give him thanks for this situation? When we start finding ways to give thanks for another pair of socks to fold it transforms how we view the work in front of us. I am thankful for tiny socks to fold because that means my house is full of lively kids! I am thankful for a sink full of dishes because it means we have a full house that is being used. I am thankful for this next customer to serve because it means I have a way to help provide for my family.
Whatever it is we see as mundane can become miraculous when we ask God to give us a grateful heart. A few years back, I was struggling under the weight of anxiety and depression, and I began the practice of journaling tiny things I was thankful for every day. I got up to 1,000 things on my list and this discipline helps transform my heart. I began to see the things I dreaded, the mundane monotony of caring for my small children, as something beautiful. God did a miracle in me when I was obedient to cultivate a grateful heart.
Whatever you are waking up to do today, I pray you see God in it. You see his provision, His grace. You feel his invitation to live as a light no matter where you are. In God’s Kingdom, the first shall be last, and the last shall be first (Matthew 19:30). That means those who seek the riches of this world over a heart that desires to follow after the Lord really misses out on the true eternal inheritance that we are given access to as followers of Christ. Let’s embrace a quiet and simple life as it is a gift from the Lord.
Photo Credit: GettyImages/Nattakorn Maneerat
