Sometimes the world just seems too much – mountains of laundry and dishes and “stuff,” with no end in sight, and everything self-propagating and apparently breeding while I’m at work. Some of the tasks seem so trivial and mundane, and yet, indispensable. (We can’t, for example, go long without underwear.)
Yet in the midst of all the clamor – laundry, dishes, cleaning, parties, gifts, bills, endless tasks – there is a still, small voice. Elijah heard it and hid his face. The voice reminds me that I find my menaing here, amid the clutter, and that the clutter is not the worst thing. The voice calms me, and turns my mind to the day when I’ll wish for the clutter of a small child and the embrace of a spouse. The voice points me to where I belong, at the feet of Jesus, living out my vocation.
I remember when God gave me that same consoling message, that He was to be found in the midst of my messy, confusing life, or I wouldn’t find Him anywhere. I needed to know that then, because I wanted (then) to run from there to find Him in the “greener pasture” of somewhere else.
It did console me, and I began to see that I could pray by washing dishes (ew) and cleaning bathrooms, and clutter wasn’t deadly to the spiritual life.
perservere. They grow up so quickly and things change in an instant.
Angelmeg, thanks for the encouragement. I can see already a slight glimpse of how quickly she’ll change…and of how short our time here, and yet how great our impact, if we will listen to that still, small voice…