THE NEW BIG

 
     We clean toilets.  We scrub juice stains.  We kiss little cuts.  And every once in a while we wonder, Am I really doing anything of importance?  Is there any lasting value in my life?


     In one of those recent moments I sensed God's whisper in my heart -- "What if small is the new big?"


     What if all these little things that we do in the daily grind we call motherhood really are HUGE? 


     We carry out millions of seemingly trivial tasks every day and yet rarely pause to reflect on how we are affecting the future.  Each step, each act of love is investing in a whole new generation.

     God sees each effort...each occasion that we feel is insignificant.  Yet, He sees with different eyes.  In Luke 16, Jesus tells us that whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.


     I want to be trusted with much.  So do you.  


     That makes this the season to be trusted with little.


     Faithfulness is the foundation of life.  We are changing the world, when we change diapers with love.  We are impacting the world, when we impact a four year old heart.  We are positively influencing the world, when we positively influence our homes and families.

     Don't let discouraging thoughts darken your small tasks -- think of them as the new big!  You are making a difference in the world, one faithful moment at a time.

"Take a good hard look at Jesus.

He's the centerpiece of everything

we believe, FAITHFUL in everything

God gave Him to do."

Hebrews 3:1&2

   


     

The Mystery of Patience

     What challenging situation are you finding yourself in the middle of right now?  Is there a new baby on the way?  A giant mess to tackle?  A toddler who throws a daily tantrum?  Whatever it is, I have great news for you -- ALL the patience you need is available to you!  Yes, really, ALL of it!

     How many times have you heard another mom say, "Oh,  I couldn't do ________ (that), I just don't have the patience"?  That is the beautiful, yet upside-down mystery of God's operating system -- it's because of the "things" that we don't feel we have the patience to accomplish that the true, deep, genuine patience will have the opportunity to take its form. 

     The inward mom cries out to reach a perfect level of pre-determined patience before stepping into the task, but God whispers to us as if to say, "You step into the task, and I will see that what you require will take its shape as you are going."

     God' operating system is completely opposite the world's operating system -- the world says we need to get our act together and then attempt the next thing.  God's operating system says we need to acknowledge that we don't have what it takes and then attempt the next thing RECOGNIZING OUR NEED FOR GOD and watch Him come through for us.

     I have a perpetual blaring alarm bell in my head now -- every time I sense the need to "arrive" before tackling the next big thing, the sirens go off -- WHRRRRRR.  The warning is that I am depending on "Kristen" if I am trying to "arrive" and not on God.  God is ready and able to meet every task that He has allowed on our path, BUT are we ready and able to give each of those tasks over to Him and ask Him to work patience in us and through us as we are going?

     Stories of the past tell the mystery of God's ways -- those famed leaders haven't accomplished grandiose things because of their predisposition to greatness, but because of their trust for God to provide "as they were going". 

     Are we prepared to place our foot on the unseen next step over the cavern of the unknown? 

     Do we believe that IF we surrender our lack of ability to produce patience over to God and ask Him to accomplish that in us, it will be as we are going that we see Him do a magnificent work?  The Bible says that we can taste and see that the Lord is good -- may this be a new way that we can experience His provision and goodness in our lives.

"We pray that you will be

strengthened with all His

glorious power so you will

have ALL the endurance

and PATIENCE

you need."

Colossians 1:11

Embracing Toil

The sun is streaming into the kitchen and I am desperate for the glow it brings to the room.  I am longing to feel the rays of warmth rest on my being today.  I have become alerted to a conflict in my mind and the light begins to draw me away from the allure of the dark whisper of the world -- the one that says, It's all about you. 

I stop. 

I know that voice, and it does not speak the truth.  I take that deadly cogitation and seal it off.  I stop the lie and replace it with what is right.  The truth that Jesus said, "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve."  Truth, the only thing that can set me free to soar in this life I have.  The only way that I can escape the pull to focus on myself.

Already in this day, delusions have appeared before my eyes.  The cream coloured shampoo bottle called out with its advertising on the label, "This is what is in it for you!"  The Portbello mushroom packaging states, "Triple washed, so you don't have to."  They are subtleties, but they are real.  Combined with so many other unnoticed intimations, I feel the pull towards wondering, How easy can I make it for myself?  The perpetual gravity that entices me to leave hard work and look for the easy way out; I don't want to stay there.

I decide to raise my sword against the temptation of laziness, and embrace toil -- I do something simple, but profound -- I fill the sink with hot, soapy water.

I plunge my hands into the hot, bubbly liquid and the lavender scent fills my senses.  I begin to attack the pile of soiled dishes that are stacked beside me, and as I watch the steam rise from the sink, I think about the WHY of this task.  That even though I am two feet away from a fully functioning dishwasher, I am reminding myself of something important - God called me to serve, just as He served.  I intentionally slow down and savour the work, not because there isn't a mountain of other things waiting for my attention,there is, but because I want to stretch myself with the chore at hand.

As just for now, I deny the luxury of a machine that could lift this basic burden from me, I ponder.  I know the weaknesses that rest inside of me.  I feel the vortex that threatens to suck me into selfishness.  So I fight...to overcome the temptation... to remember I am capable...and to turn from the desire of the easy road. 

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."  Colossians 3:23

The Unseen Investment

Just as in the heart of winter when small growth and foliage are completely hidden from sight because of the snow; so is it like our lives as moms, as we pour out our hearts for our families ~ most of what is done in love is hidden from sight.  I have been reflecting on the ongoing challenge of daily and potentially discouraging, household tasks.  You know the ones I am thinking of ~ dishes that get dirty all over again, floors that sparkle for only moments before there are marks across them, meals that are eaten in much less time than they take to prepare and then are soon forgotten, and laundry...that seemingly never-ending laundry. 

If I sound like I am complaining, I assure you I am not - just deeply reflecting and choosing to turn my focus to the One for whom all of this is done.  In fact, in Matthew 6, we are told it is good no one notices what we do in serving our families, because as it says in verse 4, "Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."  What more do we really need?  The part I find the hardest in all the invisible investments we make in our homes, as moms, is that it is hard to measure what we have done, because the lasting benefits are unseen.  I am a goal-oriented personality, and I enjoy a sense of accomplishment in seeing a job well done as much as the next person, but when we are home full-time, that is not something we have the benefit of enjoying very often, is it?

If we tried to measure our sense of accomplishment against the tasks that stay completed, we would probably have to utilize the word "hopeless" somewhere in the evaluation, wouldn't we?  Every time I finish a Monday load of laundry for seven (which is a lot of laundry by my standards), I go through the same experience.  I have huge piles of clean, neatly folded clothing that get dispersed to all the drawers and closets, and just as I begin to feel like momentarily I am ahead of the game - BOOM - I walk past the laundry hamper and it is on its way back to 3/4 full again.  You would think I would have learned by now, but I still seem to hang onto the hope that somehow it will change and for a moment, there will be no laundry.  Not in my near future.

This past week, God brought a new application to an old verse for me and it ties in so well with laundry, dishes, floors and the rest, that I felt I just had to share it.  II Corinthians 4:18 says, "So we fix our eyes NOT on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  I realize this verse has many applications - but I am excited about the laundry application, which is this:  If we try to measure our accomplishments by things that are lasting or tangible, we will forever be disappointed.  God has called us to invest in what is unseen and I feel that, as moms, we do this every day!  Investing in our homes, chores, children, husbands...most of that is "unseen"!  But that is what Jesus has said will be rewarded, and it is also what counts for eternity.  So let's see if we can fix our eyes on what we can't see and find new meaning to the same, old tasks!