Over-spiritualizing the Ordinary

Lately, it seems like I have stood at sinks and washed an overwhelming amount of things. I wash dishes at home. I wash out paint brushes and paint plates at school. I wash my 3-year-olds' face and hands about 8 million times a day. I wash spit up from the baby out of my clothes, hair, her clothes, the carpet and furniture, etc. I wash pump parts 3-4 times a day. It's a lot of washing that goes on in my world right now, people. So, during one of these many washing sessions, I began to wonder 'What is God trying to teach me through this time? Maybe I am supposed to be getting some deeper meaning from this. Perhaps I should be contemplating something in particular during the hours I spend washing stuff.' Then, it hit me...nope. It really just is what it is.

In reality, I am pretty sure I was just bored and craving some deeper meaning to all of it. Sometimes, it just isn't there. The clothes and art supplies and children and messes...they just have to be cleaned. And let's face it, some days they just stay dirty, because I am tired. I'm learning that it's ok if at every corner, there is not some grand revelation. In every task, there is not necessarily a new perspective. Pre-k lunch duty is just not likely to inspire gratitude and feelings of making a difference in the world (shocking, I know).

I'm not saying these everyday things are not important, because they absolutely must be done by someone at some point. I don't even mind them all the time...there are days and moments when I need to be able to do something that doesn't require a whole lot of thought and focused concentration. I believe it's also essential that we (I) stop attempting to squeeze spiritual truths out of each and every moment, just to justify its worthiness. It's much more important to rest in the one truth that God is pleased with faithfulness to accomplish what He has set before me today. He is pleased with simple obedience. He is pleased when we do the things we must do in the phases of life we are in with joy in our hearts that we are able, only through Him, to do anything at all.

Maybe it's just me, but when I realize that everything I do is not required to have monumental meaning, it's like a weight is physically lifted from my shoulders. I'm suddenly free to be thankful for the mundane and to relax, knowing I'm exactly where He wants me to be.