Doldrums or Delight

It’s a new year, a new day, but my day is shaping up pretty much just like it did yesterday. In fact, as a mother of three young children, life often seems to be an unending sea of diapers, dishes and laundry. I recently overheard a conversation between a young mother and an older woman.

Younger woman remarking on her day: “school, house cleaning, same old stuff…”

Older woman: “Some day you will look back and think ‘same old stuff’ was pretty wonderful. Cherish the moments!”

It seems so easy to sink down into the doldrums of doing, doing, doing that we forget who we are “doing” for – the people who eat off of those plates, the precious ones who wear those clothes, the little feet that walk on those floors. I find myself so often being the distracted Martha instead of the devoted Mary. How can we be more like Mary and choose that one thing that is needful (Luke 10:42)?

Depend on the Lord

I find that my eyes are often turned down into the trenches instead of looking to Christ. I get discouraged and overwhelmed because I am trying to do everything in my own strength. We are to acknowledge God in all our ways (Proverbs 3:6) – that means even while we’re scrubbing the toilets and mopping the floors. Charles Bridges gives us some insight into what it means to acknowledge God in all our ways:

“Take one step at a time, every step under Divine warrant and direction. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without his counsel. He loves to be consulted.”

Do our work for the Lord
We’ll find that we’ve washed all those dishes and laundry in vain if we’re looking for appreciation. Our little ones have little regard for showing appreciation. In fact, I don’t think I truly appreciated all my mother did for me until I had little ones of my own. But work that is done for the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). There is nothing too small that cannot be done for the Lord. I can please Christ just as much by folding laundry as I can by reading my Bible.

Delight in the Lord
We will succumb to a woe-is-me attitude if we are not looking to Christ as our delight. True delight and satisfaction is found only in the Lord. Watch how quickly your attitude to your work changes when you are doing it with delight in the Lord. Delight to do His will (Psalm 40:8).

I hope you have a delightful day in the Lord!

Treasures to Share
Along with each post I’d also like to include some recommendations for books and helpful internet sites that I’ve found along the way. Most of them will be geared toward wives and mothers of young children but I hope if you’re not in that category you might still benefit from them.

GirlTalk
One of my favorite blogs! Written by Carolyn Mahaney and her three daughters, this site is full of encouragement and help as we seek to please Christ in our roles as Christian mothers, daughters, sisters, friends and wives.

The Jesus Storybook Bible
This is a beautiful children’s story book by Sally Lloyd-Jones that tells the Story beneath all the stories from Genesis to Revelation. It is a beautifully illustrated book and one that your child will treasure!

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