The Mundane

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. Our Christmas Eve and early (early!) Christmas morning was spent criss-crossing NY seeing both sides of our family and exchanging gifts, funny, odd and meaningful.

Today was spent picking up much of the mess created in the last twenty-four hours, part of which included a trip to the dump and recycling center. My Senior Pastor, Kirk Gilchrist, needed to go into town so he tagged along for the ride. We used the time to catch up (as we haven’t connected in two weeks). But amidst our conversations he brought up an amazing point, something I thought worth repeating here:

We spend so much of our time teaching, preaching and meditating on just three-and-a-half years of Jesus’ life. Miracles. Healings. Great teachings. But we forget that there were 30 other years of his life, years spent working, maybe owning a business, fulfilling duties, managing money (and maybe even the lack thereof), training, and possibly managing employees. But regardless of the details, they were years spent in the mundane, everyday life. Life devoid of the miraculous perhaps. Years–thirty of them–spent just passing time.

It really spoke to me. How much of your time do you see miracles happening? Big ones? How much profound teaching do you receive? Conversely, how often do you say ask yourself, “What am I doing here?” Why am I spending so much time doing this? Feeling stuck? Feeling bored? Feeling like I’m not going anywhere?

Jesus knows. And not just a little. He spent 30 years in it! (That’s three decades for you adults, and a little more than 7 four-year high-school careers for you teenagers). Thirty years before the Holy Spirit came upon him! Thirty years of growing up, learning a trade and making money. Thirty years of wondering when he was going to fulfill his great purpose here on earth.

That’s a long time of waiting.

We all are in that kind of place somewhere along the line. Even though I see God move in my life on a weekly basis, I still struggle with the simple things like paying bills, making deposits on time, managing leaders, cleaning, keeping records and changing diapers. And, yes, even sometimes wondering what I’m doing and is it really making a difference.

So I hope you take this reminder to heart just as I am. He knows your situation. And he is intimately acquainted with what it means to engage in the mundane over a long period of time.

But know that He, Jesus Himself, is searching your heart through it all. He is looking deep inside to check your motives and purify your ambition. Think of it: Would you endure thirty years of back-breaking labor just to be butchered in the end? The truth is, I think sometimes I can’t even handle stress for a few months before I get cranky. But it’s in those moments where I hear his loving voice saying, “I know what it’s like, son. Keep going. And give me your best–your very best.”

So to all of us enduring the mundane, dismal and frankly boring elements of life, may we be reminded today that He is our example, our source of Hope and inspiration. He knows what it’s like. He’s been there. And He is rooting us on.

Give me your best–your very best.

Just when you thought your particular situation was “un-spiritual,” think again. The mundane is natural, yes. But when done with an eternal, God-inspired perspective, it is so much more. It is actually a point of identity. It is the understanding that Christ lowered Himself to our playing field and experienced everything we could possibly go through, not just the physical pain and suffering we frequently point to at Calvary. We are identifying with Him.

And ultimately, in God’s economy, those thirty were the proper gestation period for what was to come…

…something glorious and far from mundane.

CH