Drudgery

This morning I woke up feeling ‘blah’. I think I might have actually even said, “ugh” the moment I opened my eyes.

Maybe it was the fact that the power had gone out in our neighborhood in the middle of the night which caused my children to wake up and promptly freak out. OK, so only one of my children freaked out. The other one simply grabbed her flashlight and went back to sleep but not before telling us how concerned she was about the toaster working in the morning so she could have her favorite waffles. The child who did in fact freak out really wanted to sleep with us and since he is basically the size of a small-ish adult you can imagine how psyched we were over the idea of him joining us in our queen sized bed.

Maybe it was the fact that even before I opened my eyes I knew that there were dirty dishes overflowing in my sink and spilling onto the counters.

Maybe it was the fact that I was fairly certain 3 out of the 4 of us were out of clean underwear.

Or maybe it was the fact that it is raining and it’s the middle of June for Pete’s sake.

Whatever the reason, the ‘blahs’ were hitting hard and frankly I was kind of welcoming them with open arms.

I just wanted to sit and wallow in them while clinging to my hot cup of coffee. That sweet, sweet nectar was the only thing keeping me from crawling back into bed and pulling the covers over my head. Well, that and knowing that I should probably through a load of underwear in the wash.

At some point in the morning I remembered that my youngest was starting swim camp this week and I dragged myself to the bathroom for a shower.

I glanced down at the stack of books sitting next to the toilet (moms everywhere know that this room is the only place where maybe, just maybe we can get 5 minutes to ourselves. Until they find us!) and picked up ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ by Oswald Chambers.

It’s my favorite.

And here’s what I read, ” We all have those times when there are no flashes of light and no apparent thrill to life, where we experience nothing but the daily routine with it’s common everyday tasks. The routine of life is actually God’s way of saving us between our times of great inspiration which come from Him. Don’t always expect God to give you His thrilling moments, but learn to live in those common times of the drudgery of life by the power of God.”

Here’s the thing my friends, more of our lives will be filled with ‘drudgery’ than anything else. Yes, there will be mountain-top experiences when we are overwhelmed by God’s goodness and mercy and answered prayers. And yes, there will be valley experiences where we are overwhelmed by loss and grief and heartache and we will cling to Him in desperation.

But, the rest of the time? Well, it’s just life.

It’s dirty dishes.

It’s running out of clean underwear.

It’s kids climbing into bed with you in the middle of the night because they are scared even though they are 11 years old.

It’s the rainy summer days that just feel so, so wrong.

And I don’t know about you, but I find it way harder to feel close to the Lord in the times of drudgery than I do on the mountain-tops or in the valley.

Because, in those moments I feel like I don’t have a choice BUT to praise Him or cling to Him.

But in the drudgery, well, it’s definitely a choice. 

I stood in the shower and let the warm water wash over me and knew that my day was going to be filled with choices.

Should I leave the dishes in the sink for awhile longer while I have another cup of coffee?

Yes.

Should I spring for packages of goldfish crackers after swimming lessons?

Yes.

Should I decide to NOT go to the grocery store with 2 kids in the pouring rain knowing full well that it would be a recipe for disaster considering we were all feeling grumpy and tired and that we would probably end up having pancakes for dinner because it’s slim pickin’s in our house right now?

Yes.

Should we snuggle in together on the couch and watch movies on this rainy summer day in June?

YES!!!

And will I ‘learn to live in those common moments of the drudgery of life by the power of God’?

Well, I’m definitely going to try!