Monotonous Life

 "One of the things that I wasn't prepared for as a wife and mother is how monotonous life is. Every day I do the dishes and vacuum and fold laundry and sometimes its hard to be content with the same old, same old." So said the young women before me, with our other friend nodding in agreement. 

"And your toddler doesn't thank you for folding the laundry again, does he?"

Both smiled. 

I guess that's something most of us haven't been prepared for; the monotony of life. The fairy tales and hallmark movies all end with the prince sweeping the princess off her feet...they don't have anything to say about waking every two hours to feed a baby or paying the same bills. In her autobiography, Isobel Kuhn says

    "Life does contain moments of adventure, but these times are interspersed with long periods of plain, unvarnished hard work. The real things of life are attained at these monotonous level periods, so to     speak, more than they are at the high peaks of excitement." (By Searching, by Isobel Kuhn, pg47)

Moreover, the majority of adult life is rather thankless, whether you're a stay-at-home mom or work outside the home. People do not shout "thank you" to the garbage men or send notes of encouragement to linesmen who work to keep our hydro up and running. Most of the things people do go unnoticed and unappreciated by the rest of humanity and, if we're being completely honest, being unnoticed and unappreciated are two things that we dislike--we're even prone to become bitter about them. 

Let me encourage you with this; though humanity does not notice that you've picked up your husband's socks for the two hundredth time, God notices. I recently heard a sermon on Ephesians 6:5-9, about slaves and masters, and one thought has stuck with me. The pastor said that we are first of all servants of God, so when we are doing something that we must do (though it is boring or unpleasant, and our boss isn't kind or thoughtful) we can have joy in our work because we are doing it for Jesus; Jesus is watching us. 

I think about that almost every day. When I must feed my friend who can't feed herself (which is not a particularly pleasant job in my mind) I think about how I am doing it for Jesus, and how if Jesus could not feed Himself I would feed Him with joy, so why shouldn't I joyfully feed His sister? When I am teaching music and the student is not paying attention I think how I ought to be patient because I am doing this for Jesus. When I vacuum or clean the bathroom I think about how I do it for God and, in a way, am mimicking the God of order as I create order in my own space. 

When I do my daily, monotonous work for Jesus it gives the work a higher purpose, a royal purpose. Loading the dishwasher and tying a child's shoes become kingdom work. 

Satan would have you either not do the work before you or grumble about it or become bitter, Jesus would have you "do the next thing" as Elisabeth Elliot says, and do it with joy. 

    Lord, grant me grace to abide in Jesus, that every act of my life may testify whose I am, and whom I serve. And like the martyr who answered every question "I am a Christian," may my every thought, word, and action proclaim Jesus and my union and oneness with him--so that everyone may plainly see I am no longer my own. But instead, "being bought with a  price, you glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are both his." Amen." Robert Hawker (Piercing Heaven, pg 147)