Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Wednesdays with Words: The Mundane

From The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education:

"Indeed, a Christian values every service of God so much that though some may be in the eyes of the word & of natural reason a slight & empty business, beggarly elements, or foolishness, yet since God call for it, the authority of the command so overawes his heart that he is willing to spend himself & to be spent in discharging it. It is an expression of Luther's that ordinary works, done in faith & from faith, are more precious than heaven & earth." (pg. 23)

I've been thinking a lot about this quote since reading it last week. I've always been thankful for the Reformers who brought to light the Scripture's view of vocation. I've been chewing on this idea of a heart that is "overawed" and living one's life so that I'm "spent."

Hm. Motherhood often leaves me spent & I'm sure it does you too. But does it leave our hearts in awe? The mundane is beautiful... even when it isn't. Listen, I'm right smack in the middle of this mothering thing so I KNOW it doesn't always feel beautiful. The reality is, it's often hard & messy & sadly, often messed up because of sin. My sin + eight little others. That's a lot of mess. It's okay to acknowledge that- we don't need to pretend.

But what is beautiful is the offering up, the surrendering, the service, the faith. What is beautiful is the grace of God! What is beautiful is that our Savior delights in us! I'm praying for eyes to see this! And I'm also praying that God will show me how to teach my children to grasp this idea for whatever the Lord directs them to do.

Be sure to link up with Dawn's blog to see more words:

Here's what I'm reading:
Grain Brain by David Perlmutter
Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships by Duggar girls
The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education by Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs
Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson


3 comments:

Unknown said...

I read Grain Brain last year, and it really changed some of my thinking. Loved the quote, too!

Heather said...

Thanks for sharing this. Like you, there is no place I would rather be than here with my kids in spite of all of the mess.

dawn said...

Thanks, Heather. You always encourage me to see Jesus in the mess. Pastor Kessler has been talking about how sometimes the messes are exactly where the Lord comes to work in order to show His glory and power ... when it is obvious we are incapable of fixing the damage without him.