EquippedMama

In a household of six, with four six and under, two things spell doom: stomach flu and the inability to easily do laundry. This week we had both.

Late one night we were woken by my two-year-old who was very sick and very upset about it. That night was spent cleaning vomit and making an almost insurmountable pile of laundry for the following day. Then the dryer broke.

In the grand scheme of things, neither of these issues were really all that significant. My daughter bounced back, and soon was her energetic, happy self. My laundry was able to be air-dried and the appliance repairman was able to help us get a little more life out of our very well-used dryer. Then I soon found myself vomiting on repeat and again the dryer went down. Little inconveniences, big opportunities.

In the book of Romans, Paul spends the first several chapters explaining the Gospel and God’s reason for giving the law to the Jewish people. The final chapters of this Epistle Paul gives practical life instructions for how to live, and he ends chapter 13 with this exhortation:

¹² The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³ Let’s behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and debauchery, not in strife and jealousy. ¹⁴ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Romans 13:12-14 New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

Paul encouraged Christ-followers to live in a way becoming of Jesus. To live with passions in check, with a testimony that is clearly representative of a follower of Jesus.

As we look at the world around us, we see such stark contrast between darkness and light. Almost daily it seems there are new world crises and reasons for being unsettled. We see the very essence of our faith attacked by prominent political and social influencers. In these instances, it is so easy to focus in on the broken dryers and piles of vomit-covered laundry and forget the words of Paul in his second letter to the Corinthian church:

¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Our circumstances are not forever. In the daily struggles of living in a fallen world we are given the powerful reminder that this world is not our home. Our little inconveniences (or sometimes crushing disappointments) are a continuous reminder that this world is not our home. Those of us who have trusted in Jesus as our Lord and Savior can long for with expectation the hope of Heaven and eternal life.

So what do we do with the circumstances we have been given?

We are faithful to the tasks we have been called to today.

For me, that means hanging another load of laundry (the dryer is broken again). I change diapers, teach handwriting and math and help my children practice their music. I load the dishwasher and feed my dogs and chickens. I help potty train and practice Awana verses with my older kids.

I go about the tasks that are so very mundane, and yet in so doing I realize the incredible value God has placed on my work and my life. In each circumstance, I am given opportunity to point my family and community to the Lord through my responses to frustration, disappointment and exhaustion. It is all an opportunity to testify to the goodness of God, even in the little things.

Hopefully the GI bug hasn’t hit your place, but if it has, embrace it as an opportunity to reflect Christ to a watching world.

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