Worshiping God in the Mundane

As a stay-at-home mom, I struggled with feeling like what I do doesn't matter. With constantly cleaning the house, folding the clothes, and doing the dishes, I let my mind go there; I would get down on myself and think of how tedious and boring my life was.

I read this book called: The Quotidian Mysteries by Kathleen Norris. One quote in particular really hit home for me:

"It is a paradox of human life, that in worship, as in human love, it is in the routine and the everyday that we find the possibilities for the greatest transformation. Both worship and housework often seem perfunctory. And both, by the grace of God, may be anything but. At its Latin root, perfunctory means "to get through with," and we can easily see how liturgy, laundry and what has traditionally been conceived as "women's work" can be done in that indifferent spirit. But the joke is on us: what we think we are only "getting through" has the power to change us, just as we have the power to transform what seems meaningless-the endless repetitions of a litany or the motions of vacuuming a floor. What we dread as mindless activity can free us, mind and heart, for the workings of the Holy Spirit, and repetitive motions are conducive to devotions..."

As I finished the book, I went back and looked over this quote and realized how true it is. If I see what I do everyday as a way to worship God, then my purpose in life is to worship God. What a GREAT mission and life-purpose! We are called to worship God in everything we say and do, so if I can praise God while I'm feeling stuck in the mundane, how many more areas of my life can I have that same attitude? If I can worship God when I'm alone and quiet or at church, I can definitely worship God while changing diapers and picking up dog poop. If I can worship God while I'm hiking in the wilderness or singing worship songs in my car, I can definitely worship God while I'm washing the 50th dish of the day or folding the 105th item of clothing. If I have an attitude of worship and my life-purpose is worshiping God, then everything I find myself doing can be bringing praise and glory to God if I let it.