Cook. Clean. Sleep. Repeat.
Life is full of mounds of dishes and laundry. With 3 kids under 6yrs and another on the way, my wife and I are well aware of this fact. Sometimes life can feel like a never-ending cycle of cook, clean, work, cook, clean, sleep, repeat.
If you get behind, even one day, the kitchen counter can look like the aftermath of a small hurricane. The house looks like it has been ransacked by the local mob. The laundry pile has swollen so big that you can no longer see the oversized laundry hamper drowning underneath.
What’s it all for?
It can feel overwhelming, and also, at times, a little pointless. An endless cycle of the mundane. What’s it all for? Where is God in these mundane tasks?
That has been my attitude towards the mundane until I read a quote that utterly changed the way I viewed life’s everyday tasks.
Here it is –
“The piles of dirty dishes and laundry are the evidence that God feeds hungry bellies and clothes naked bodies.”
Physical Evidence of God’s Provision
This simple quote stopped me dead in my tracks. Could it be that the mundane tasks that were causing me such resentment, were actually the physical evidence of God’s provision and abundance to my family?
If God wasn’t the God “who gives food to the hungry” (Psalm 146:7), then the kitchen would be immaculate, but my children’s stomaches would ache from starvation. If God wasn’t the God who clothes the naked (Gen 3:21), then the laundry hampers would stand empty, but my children would be shivering in the cold. A messy house is the evidence of God’s abundant blessing.
“God is teaching me to look beyond the mess, to look toward the abundance.” Caroline Albanese
A New Way of Seeing
This new way of viewing the mundane can reshape the way you see the mess in your house.
Whether you have eyes to see it or not, the crumbs on the floor underneath the dining room table are tangible signs of God’s faithfulness. Toys strewn across the floor are the evidence that God has blessed you richly with children who have deep joy and imagination. There is beauty in the mess.
Next time you see the piles of laundry and dishes, remember that they are tangible signs of God’s goodness to you. They are not tasks to be resented – they are reminders of God’s provision for naked bodies and hungry bellies. Trade resentment for thanksgiving. The mess is the evidence of abundant joy and life. Have eyes to see God’s goodness in the mundane.
