Beauty in the Ordinary

I know I’ve mentioned “The Riot and the Dance” documentaries before— I happen to love them. The host, Dr. Gordon Wilson, explains beautifully (much better than I will do here) that there are the “Wow!” moments of creation (think lions, elephants, blue whales), then there are the vast number of ordinary moments (the ants in your backyard or other creatures you would pass almost without noticing)—and aren’t the moments that make up our lives much the same? We have “Wow” moments on our wedding day, when a child is born, or even when we’re having an unexpectedly wonderful day where the kids are behaving and no one has hit their sibling or tattled or whined even once. Then we have the many, many ordinary days in between full of dirty dishes, muddy shoes, bedtime struggles, and a surprising amount of crumbs. Here’s a challenge for us all who are often tempted to have disdain for the ordinary—isn’t our Maker sovereign over all of this? Isn’t it by His design that most of our life is made up of ordinary days? Days that we, as parents, spend working to be in unity with our spouses, wiping tears and settling sibling battles, drawing our children away from rebellious behaviors and pointing them towards the truths of Scripture, doing lots and lots of laundry, losing tempers here and there, learning to apologize, and bringing our sinfulness before the Lord in repentance.

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” – Galatians 6:7-9

Sowing

I am an extremely novice gardener (my efforts are hardly even worthy of that title) but I’m beginning to understand a little more about the concept of sowing. Though I have much to learn, I’ve learned as much to know that nothing very exciting happens when a seed is placed in its little dark hole in the earth. Even on the next day, it’s very likely you’ll be watering what looks like nothing. And perhaps you’d be right, if you lived at my house, it’s very likely that a squirrel came five minutes after you left and undid your planting. But if the seed did begin to grow, it may be some time before there is any sign of a flower or fruit (or green bean, in my case).

Isn’t this similar to what we’re doing every day in our homes? Faithfully planting seeds, day by day, mostly unseen, without praise or even without feeling like we’ve accomplished very much. For example, if you can imagine, our dinner table can get very loud unless we train our kids to be mindful of having one person talk at a time. Unless we remind them of this rule, and sometimes enforce it with an “Okay, now it’s silent time for a few minutes and we’ll try again after”, cacophony would reign and dinner would be very unpleasant for all of us. Teaching this to our kids has sometimes felt absolutely maddening since there is no sign of nearing perfection and often I’ve been ready to give it up altogether and resign myself to shouting across the table. But my husband and I know that eventually, even though we can’t see it clearly now, our kids will learn to have conversations at the table and will have many, pleasant, future meals because they’ve learned to take turns speaking and listening at the dinner table—a harvest to look forward to!

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:18

Seeds of faith

Our everyday, ordinary moments are fertile ground for teaching our children, and growing ourselves, in the truths of our faith. When your child watches you open your Bible day after day, when they see you make your bed each morning, mow the lawn each week (I see you, Dads!), they’re learning consistency, discipline and diligence. When you use daily failures (aka kid fights) to point to how Scripture calls us to live— “Treat others the way you want to be treated” makes an appearance often over here —you’re training in righteous relationships. When you totally blow it, lose your temper and toss the toy you tripped over across the room—oh, what a perfect time to train our children in how to apologize and make it right when we mess up (they’re going to need to know how to do that, too). When your head just hit the pillow and you’re tired beyond reason but your child walks in and needs a “potty buddy” because they’re afraid of the dark, plant seeds of sacrificial love (and teach them a memory verse to repeat next time they’re afraid).

And when you begin to grow weary (you’ll know it’s happening because you’ll start to feel less excited about a new day when you wake up), ask the good Lord to help you obey his clear and loving instructions to, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). He will help you find joy in the mundane and in the ordinary moments that really are the moments that make up most of our lives. Next time you’re down on your knees wiping up crumbs (it’ll probably be very soon) pray, sing a hymn, seek His face, and have joy in it.

“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭1‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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