Do Small Things Well

“It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God — but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people — and this is not learned in 5 minutes.” ~Oswald Chambers~

I came across this quote a few weeks ago in my devotional and it was such a good reminder to me that I decided to write about it. I find that sometimes I’m tempted to fall for the lie that ordinary things aren’t as important as extraordinary things, but the truth is that most of our lives are spent doing ordinary things. Most of us spend our time doing the things that are required of us day to day. As a stay at home mama of three little ones, my days are filled with the repetitive actions that are necessary to keep three little boys cared for and keep our house running. I make a lot of food, change a lot of diapers, teach them how to behave, read a lot of books, sing a lot of songs, help them get dressed, put them down for naps, do a lot of dishes, and all the other little things that make up our days. It’s all very ordinary, but I’ve learned that that doesn’t make it unimportant. In fact, doing the seemingly small things well is what will make the biggest impact on the ones that I love.

I have no idea if God has anything extraordinary in store for me, but I know that all these seemingly ordinary things I get to do are of the utmost importance because they are the things that will help shape the lives of the little ones I’ve been entrusted to raise. I also think that oftentimes, when someone is in a position to do something extraordinary for God, it’s usually because they had chosen to become extraordinary at the ordinary things in their lives.

As I think about this idea, I’m reminded of David. Defeating Goliath would certainly be considered extraordinary; however, the reason he was so skilled with his slingshot was because of his ordinary work as a shepherd (1 Samuel 17:34-36; 50). He had become extraordinary at being a shepherd, so when the opportunity came up to do something as extraordinary as defeating Goliath, he was ready. He wasn’t told when he was young that he should prepare to face Goliath someday, he was simply taught to be a shepherd — and he became extraordinary at that. If he had shirked his responsibility as a shepherd, he may not have been ready to face Goliath. If he had thought that being a shepherd wasn’t worth putting in the effort to become extraordinary at it, his skills with a slingshot might not have been up to par. Had he not learned how to protect sheep from lions and bears, he might not have been courageous enough to go up against Goliath. His confidence and trust that God would deliver Goliath into his hand was built while he was being an ordinary shepherd (1 Samuel 17:37).

At this time in my life, God has given me the opportunity to be a wife and a mama — which is very ordinary. In giving me this opportunity, I have a choice to make. I can choose to view it as too ordinary to be of importance or I can choose to become extraordinary at the things that being a wife and a mama require of me. My perspective on motherhood will have a direct impact on my children’s perspective of childhood. My perspective on marriage will have a direct impact on Marc and our children’s perspective of it. Most importantly, my perspective on God will have a direct impact on Marc and our children’s perspective of Him. This means that the seemingly ordinary tasks are actually the most important. It means that becoming extraordinary at preparing meals, doing laundry, teaching our children about Jesus whenever I can, cleaning, changing diapers, and all the other ordinary things is important. Am I saying that every wife and/or mama must be extraordinary at all of these things? Of course not! I know, for example, that we aren’t all extraordinary at cooking/baking, but I think that we all can improve in that area if we want to — and I think that goes for nearly every other ordinary task that we have.

I think that it’s important to take our ordinary roles very seriously. We have all been given the opportunity to become extraordinary at being ordinary people who do ordinary things. No matter where we’re at in our lives there will always be ordinary tasks for us to do — we might as well become the best that we possibly can be at them. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

It isn’t that some of us won’t do exceptional things for God, but rather that that should not be our goal. We were not called to do exceptional things for God, we were called to follow Him. I think that we have all been given the opportunity to become extraordinary at something ordinary and when we obediently follow wherever God leads us, we might just find that one of those ordinary tasks that we took the time to become extraordinary at is the very thing that God uses to do something extraordinary through us. I don’t want to miss out on an opportunity to be used for something extraordinary simply because I didn’t take my role as a wife and mama seriously enough to become extraordinary at the ordinary parts of it.

What is something ordinary that you are working on becoming extraordinary at? What is something ordinary that you are grateful for?

Song(s) of the Week: This week I chose “Small Things” by Leah Campbell. Enjoy!