The Real Stuff

By Leslie Snyder

"Do everything without complaining or arguing"
-Philippians 2:14

"That we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God."
-Brother Lawrence

I have a love-hate relationship with this verse. I love it when it applies to someone else (like my kids, husband, or the teenagers with whom I work), and I hate it when it applies to me. My guess is that I'm not alone in my sentiments.

Little makes me grumble and complain more than mundane tasks. Daily responsibilities like household chores and routine reminders just aren't exciting. The same is true of commuting to and from work, punching a time clock, redoing the work you did yesterday and planning to do the same tomorrow. The truth is no one wants to live a mundane life filled with mundane activities.

I guess the part of me that wants to hustle through these mundane tasks longs for the excitement of the "real" work, the stuff that really matters. You know, the exciting stuff that God is calling me to do that is so much more important than the mundane tasks that fill my days.

Then the thought occurred to me, "What if the seemingly mundane activities of my day are the real stuff? What if things like driving the carpool, hosting the neighborhood kids after school, fixing endless cold lunches and hot dinners, changing diapers, finding lost shoes, helping with homework, paying the bills while not complaining or arguing are the very tasks God is calling me to fulfill?" Brother Lawrence, a 17th century monastic leader, said, that the most excellent method he had found of going to God was that of doing our common business without any view of pleasing men, and (as far as we are capable) purely for the love of God.

Ouch! That one hurts! I suppose that different seasons in our lives bring different definitions to the word "mundane", but in his letter to the church at Colossae, Paul encourages, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving" Colossians 3:23-24.

GOING DEEPER:
What mundane things in your life may, in reality, be the "real" stuff? Thank God today for His presence in the everyday things of life.

FURTHER READING:
Matthew 25:40