Christian homemaking-The Holy Work Of Mundane life
Christian homemaking-The Holy Work Of Mundane life
There’s something really important I need to tell you today about homemaking.
Someone posted this quote today, so I decided to stop everything I’d planned for, and Bible journal.
“On the darkest days, when I feel inadequate, unloved, and unworthy, I remember whose daughter I am, and I straighten my crown” (unknown author)
Because there’s nothing I’m doing today that is more important, than finally spending some time with God.
I don’t want to feel like He is something on my “to do” list, can you relate?
But that isn’t what this post is about, really.
Who, or what, is influencing our “to-do” list anyway? (check out great Christian homemaking blogs here)
“The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them- Louise May Alcott, Little Women
The Holy Work Of The Mundane from christa on Vimeo.
Does mundane mean boring?
Sometimes there’s a danger in beautiful social media feeds.
Of believing that everyone sits there creating holy work with their art supplies all day long. Or decorating the Pinterest-perfect house. Or making all the kid’s clothes from scratch.
Mundane: everyday, normal, commonplace, routine, ordinary…how about a place where beauty lives? Reframing the perspective makes drudgery change its value.
Proverbs 14:1 “The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.”
While you might be making carefully budgeted for food for your family, again. Half of which might get thrown on the floor you hoped to mop but a messy toddler.
Doing a load of laundry, wiping boogers off a child’s face, trying to referee between siblings, getting your homeschooling done, and feeling woefully inadequate.
“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”- Ludy Maude Montogmery, Anne of Green Gables
A look at Christian homemaking
Your work matters more than you know.
Ecclesiastes 9:10a “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.”
Maybe you are trying to run a home business, or handle chronic illness, or be a friend to someone whose needs outweigh your capability.
Running errands, or moving or trying to just calm the 1,000 thoughts in your mind.
This is important, honorable work! Even when it feels like the most boring stuff ever. Sometimes that is true, but often? We are missing something special in embracing the ordinary as a pursuit of joy.
Homemaking is surely in reality the most important work in the world- C. S. Lewis
Does mundane homemaking really matter?
There are a million things you’re probably doing besides creating beautiful art all day.
But there’s something I want you to know…
Those things? Those mundane things? You are creating holy artwork today.
The things that we do on a daily basis? If our larger picture is doing it because we love God?
That is Holy work my friends— don’t believe the lies that say it’s nothing. Because it’s everything.
How can I be a fulfilled Christian homemaker?
It’s humble worship at its finest. Creating something beautiful out of the imperfect.
I’ve got art supplies, and it doesn’t make it any easier to find the time to use them.
When I can? It is glorious and deeply fulfilling.
Yet…
“I have found that there is romance in housework: and charm in it; and whimsy and humor without end. I have found that the housewife works hard, of course–but likes it.
Most people who amount to anything do work hard, at whatever their job happens to be. The housewife’s job is home-making, and she is, in fact, ‘making the best of it’; making the best of it by bringing patience and loving care to her work; sympathy and understanding to her family; making the best of it by seeing all the fun in the day’s incidents and human relationships.
The housewife realizes that home-making is an investment in happiness. It pays everyone enormous dividends. There are huge compensations for the actual labor involved…There are unhappy housewives, of course.
But there are unhappy stenographers and editresses and concert singers. The housewife whose songs I sing as I go about my work, is the one who likes her job”
MAJORIE KINNAN RAWLINGS
Christian homemaking is marked by joy
The mundane shows where our joy can be found.
We all have the “dailies” that dictate how we spend the bulk of our time. It is imperative to recognize the gifts in the mundane.
They are the powerful markers that guide us into gratitude and joy.
Your turn- When you reflect on your day, can you find the beauty in the ordinary moments? If not, what makes it hard for you to see? I’d really love to know.
Christian homemaking resources you might enjoy:
- The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming
- The Christian Homemaker’s Handbook
- Not Just A Mom: The Extraordinary Worth of Motherhood & Homemaking
- Having a Martha Home the Mary Way: 31 Days to a Clean House and a Satisfied Soul
- Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management: The 1861 Classic with Advice on Cooking, Cleaning, Childrearing, Entertaining, and More (Ok, maybe not “practical” in a modern sense, but such fun to read! )
- Disclosure: I only recommend products I do/would use myself. This post may contain affiliate links that at NO additional cost to you, may earn me a small commission to help support this blog. Read full privacy policy here.
Such a great post! It’s exactly what I’ve been thinking about today. Thank you.❤️
Isn’t it fun when that happens with each other? Thanks so much for being here today!
With tears, I thank you for writing this.
Morgan, you just made it all worth while 100 x over. Blessings upon you again and again
Sometimes there’s a danger in beautiful Instagram and Pinterest feeds–
Of believing that everyone sits there creating holy work with their art supplies all day long.
While you might be making food for your family, again. Doing a load of laundry, wiping boogers off a child’s face, trying to referee between siblings, getting your home schooling done and feeling woefully inadequate.
Every. Single. One of these I can SO relate to!!!
Thank you for sharing this!
I am a homeschooling. Momma with an invisible illness and disc problems in my spine. I have all my art supplies but spend more time seeing others beautiful creations because sometimes all I can do is lay down!
Thank you for reminding me that if im only discipling my children and reading or schooling from bed…that is still important!!!
Oh thank you!!!
Veronica
Hi Veronica!!! I am so very happy to hear you were encouraged. It is tough stuff to school from bed and with invisible illness. I can so relate! Keep up the good work, you are doing a beautiful art project called life ♥
For years I worked as a hospice nurse. I once asked a dying patient what he missed the most….he told me,”I miss being able to do all the things I hated doing…like washing my car,taking out the garbage or paying my bills”. It was a valuable lesson for me. All of life is a gift. The mundane is a gift. Imagine being unable to wash your own dishes…or go for your mail….the ability to DO is a gift. The ability to do the mundane with love is the ultimate gift of creation….of life.
Linda, wow. Just wow. Thank you for sharing this beautiful piece of a life story with us. It’ll definitely make me go about my day with a bit more gratitude. Thank you so much
YES! It’s always good to remember that we can glorify God in the mundane. And that is one thing I really loved about the Reformation– it exalted the lowly and called them holy. Martin Luther said, “A dairymaid can milk cows to the glory of God” basically putting the simpleton on the same level as the clergymen which was pretty astounding at the time. We have some holy business to attend to DAILY, but that may not always look like the pretty pictures on Instagram or Pinterest as you remind us, Christa. Sometimes holy looks a lot like the ordinary.
OH Sarah, I love that quote, really puts some things I am dealing with into perspective. Thanks for helping ME today 🙂
This post caught my eye because I just got done writing about the same topic. (Love it that God works in two completely different hearts to steer us toward the same timeless truth.) This world makes it seem like I should be doing “greater” things, but really, the greatest thing is just to obey God and be faithful in all the little things. Thanks so much for sharing your heart. 🙂
Would you like to share a link here so readers can check out your writing as well? We sure all can use constant reminders to keep our eyes on the prize!
Amen! Jesus wouldn’t have had time for Pinterest and social media. He was too busy getting His feet dusty! 🙂
Ha no kidding, excellent visual reminder Rebecca!