All the dishes get done even if all the laundry doesn’t. I wipe down that table top that wobbles on four legs that have been loosely unhinged ever since we had boys. Paper towel and hand smooth over the old paint splotches that won’t come off and the scratches that no one admits to making.
My every day is an ordinary collection of rinse and repeats that every mother knows by heart.
I am not a preacher or a Bible teacher.
I am a collector of stray socks and washer of towels that people keep wiping Spiderman tooth paste traces across. Some Sundays I serve in the children’s nursery and most Sundays I sit in the sanctuary and think what it must be like to have to spend as much time knee deep in Scripture as I spend in lego and toy cars. That is the work of preachers, I tell myself.
On Monday night I think I hear God telling me something else.
I rock a baby and hang up a call on that fun phone with the purple case and I think I hear something. It’s not coming from the finally-quiet-house. It’s coming from somewhere inside of me. I listen and what I hear makes me uncomfortable.
There it is again – the challenge, the invitation – to sink into Scripture and prayer and all that stuff I imagine that’s reserved for pulpit-goers. I swallow slowly. Bible going is easier for me when it’s in the form of a 30 second app on my smart phone. Not when it requires time that could be spent on my own to-dos.
But I hear it again – the insistence that I don’t need to be at a women’s retreat, a Sunday school class, or behind a pulpit to be with the God who sees nothing routine about my routine.
There’s the boy who drives me to distraction with wondering how to redirect in his fiery spirit, the other boy who is growing ahead of me and making me work hard to keep parenting at his pace, and the baby girl who teaches me things about my own womanhood.
There’s the patient man who shares these ups and downs with me.
And here’s the home we share, in between two countries and a collection of far too many light sabers.
I sit at my desk in the corner of an overcrowded play room and open my Bible. Here is church on an ordinary Tuesday morning. There is no occasion, there is only wanting to be with the God who sees me, and away from the fear that pursues me.
“If you don’t know what you are doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help.”
James 1 {The Message}.
Outside the neighbor starts up his mower and a dog barks. Inside I meet the Gardner who wants to, “landscape [me] with the Word….”
The fear shifts. I can smell cut grass.
Seasons are changing.
::
::
Want to keep up with this here blog – sign up to get my posts emailed to your doorstep right here
Or delivered to your reader of choice. Or just like us on Facebook.
Some days I have time to read some blogs before work … today is one of those days, and I am greatful. Your words today … wonderful!
Blessings!
thank you for this precious reminder that god sees nothing routine about my routine. this life i am living is a priviledge and a pleasure. blessings abound. i will tuck this away for the rinse and repeat moments that consume me.
thank you friend
xo
I am in a different season of life but remember the season you are in very well! SO glad you made time to meet with the gardener! THAT is the most important part of mothering….and it may look different every day! :-)
We have raised 3 boys…the youngest one is now 16. My hubby recently started a blog about the things we learned.
http://raisingmen.net/about/
Thank you for this! Hits close to home! Beautiful and true!!
Love you girlie…
Thank you for putting tears in my eyes and hunger in my heart this morning.
Love you!
a
Yes, this. I’ve always found it hard to settle into a routine with God, despite how routine the rest of my life can be. My passion goes in spurts, my flame flickers, and every time I return to Him, He satisfies. It’s all about the remembering… just as I never forget to eat a meal (especially at 8 months pregnant!), I must remember to feed my spirit with the things that truly fill. Thank you for the reminder.
I have children in varying ages (20, 17, 11 and 8). I sometimes get into a rut of the routine and mundane things I do every day. I am so thankful that He beckons me to come away with Him to that secret place. Yes, in my busy life my iPhone app is much cherised. But I truly am learning to consume the scriptures, meditating on them day and night. I want to give myself to the Gardner, to be landscaped by His Word.
This is such beautiful worship, Lisa-Jo. He brings us to the realization that it’s in the everyday ordinary places that He resides and wants us to See.
Mmmm … So good. We are all priests — every one of us, right? We’re all messengers, pastors. Our pulpits are kitchen tables, and our sanctuaries are toyrooms and nurseries.
I love your spirit. It’s contagious, dear heart.
Thank you. We need to hear that we are apprieciated and that what we do matters. If we can do the “mundane” tasks well, what else can’t we accomplish ;)?
Beautifully written – thank you for your words.
Lisa-Jo. I loved this. Loved it! You speak to my heart, sister-friend. *mwwah*
Can I come to your house? I just want to see you, make sure you’re real! You speak so perfectly about our imperfections as mom. Those times in the Word… I’m still getting there. These mommy years are so different from my single years, when time was my own.
So so different. And if you came to my house tonight you’d see all the dishes from the pasta we ate still sitting on the table as I take time to unwind after the bedtime chaos. Mommy still loves her me time :)
Your post today resonated with something I’d been wanting to write, and move back into practicing, so when I wrote I linked back to this, hope that’s okay! Thanks for encouraging faith growth.
Ahhh…the Extraordinary in the ordinary…the Divine in the daily…
Thanks for a lovely glimpse into your ordinary, and a reminder to pursue the Divine in the daily!
Love the post; love those little socks!!
“…take the light saber of truth which is the word of God….” Ephesians 6 it popped into my brain after you said you have way too many light sabers…funny how God refers to his word as a Sword….
good post and thank you for that reminder today
time spent with Him is always a treasure worth sharing…