I am a creature of habit. So much so that I’ve found dieting to be most successful for me if I plan to eat nearly the same things every single day. As a stay at home mom of 4, I have always lived or died by routine. When all of my children were home, and we were homeschooling, routine was simple, and I said “no” to things outside of that routine all the time. Disrupting nap made everything about my day more difficult. Throwing off just one day’s schedule, often had a ripple effect on my entire week. Interestingly, however, while these small, seemingly insignifcant changes could greatly disturb my psyche, I could very easily roll with the punches when it came to large, life changes. They came with their difficulties, of course, but ultimately I knew that God was guiding us, I was talking to Him daily about these changes and challenges, and trusting Him for peace and wisdom throughout. We have dealt with job loss several times, big moves, new homes, new churches, new friends. All of these things I handled with more grace and peace than I tend to handle every day nuances. Why is that?
We have a tendency to exclude Jesus from the daily tasks, cut Him out of the menial, the tedious, and the monotonous. I say we because I feel I am not alone in this, but we essentially exclude Him from our daily lives, only calling upon Him when we feel we truly require His help. The rest we feel we can handle on our own. This is no big deal, right? I got this. How is that working out for you?
Because it has not been all that stellar for me. I have been frazzled, unorganized, struggling with diet, chores, plans, and memory. I cannot even tell you the number of times I have had to apologize to my children’s teachers for lack of preparation on my part, or completely forgetting an event or a paper that needed returning. My children are no longer under my own schedule. With three of four children in school now, we often have obligations outside of my routine. We cannot always avoid disrupting the nap of our youngest. And I have not handled these adjustments at all the way I would have hoped.
But, this is HOPE!
Good news guys! The God of the big is still God of the little. The God of our major life changes is also the God of our daily tasks. The very same God who gives us peace during the job change, or family move, can give us peace during a missed nap, or scheduling conflict. If Jesus helps us through the major stress of life, what makes us think He can’t also help us through the daily stresses? Is it that we don’t give Him the opportunity? Or that we don’t think He would care? Either way, we’re wrong. Our God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He cares the same. He never leaves. Don’t exclude Him from the mundane. Don’t act like you only need Him for the big stuff.
