My days are filled with all things “normal.” The other day one of my kids shouted down the hallway. “Ew!
What happened in here? Mo-o-o-m!” At that moment I knew in my heart that she was probably standing in the bathroom. And that she was probably looking at something putrid left behind by a sibling. And that I was probably going to have to throw out the bathroom rug… again. And then the doorbell rang. Making messes and then opening our home seem to be our normal.
Normal life in your family may not look the same as it does in mine. I live in an apartment, in a big city, in the Middle East, with my pastor-husband and our four little kids. The buzzer on the dryer just went off, I’m feeling anxious about a bill we need to pay soon, my daughter is doing her homework, one of my neighbors is having a baby today, I’m not looking forward to a hard conversation I need to have with a friend, and my son just informed me that we’re all out of juice. Whatever “normal” is in your home, I think we can all agree that that’s where we live. On occasion our mundane is punctuated by the surprisingly monumental, but for the most part we live in the relative consistency of our everyday lives.
Our ordinary lives in the home are both mundane and majestic. From sun-up until sundown we go about the good work that God has called us to (and sometimes throughout the night). As the days and nights unfold we experience occasional plot twists, dramatic monologues, and even an occasional ironic episode. We expect all of these things. “That’s life,” we say. We are a motley crew of sinners made in God’s image who are trying to live alongside each other under the gospel of God’s grace. It’s beautiful and messy.
But I fear that in my life in the home, even as I busy myself with this good, God-given work, I’m prone to miss the reminders of the motif of grace that God has written into everyday life. The good work that I’m called to is replete with the glorious and eternal, yet it’s enacted through the humble and finite. Even so, my soul tends to be discouraged by what I see right in front of me, so I need help fixing my eyes on Jesus as I scale that mountain of laundry.
While I know that my work as a homemaker is never done, there is a peace that passes all understanding when I remember the finished work of Christ on the cross, his ongoing work of sanctification in my life, and his eschatologically-oriented work of bringing all things under his feet.
Blessings,
Gloria, GloriaFurman.com
Gloria Furman (@gloriafurman) lives in Dubai with her husband Dave, a pastor at Redeemer Church of Dubai. They have four young kids. Gloria is the author of Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in Your Home (Crossway, 2013) and Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full: Gospel Meditations for Busy Moms (Crossway, 2014).
Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in Your Home is about exploring the role the gospel plays in motivating and empowering us in the daily rhythms of life. How can a homemaker enjoy her heavenly Father’s care and provision while she toils day and night? What does our work in the home have to do with God’s will to sanctify us? How does the gospel motivate and empower us to joyfully do the work God has called us to? There is great joy to be had in our extraordinary God even as we live our ordinary lives in the home. You can buy the book by clicking here.
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