How I’m Navigating the Mundane

Weeknights between 8 and 8:30 p.m. are the most challenging times of the week. They’re when I fight general discouragement the hardest.

It’s at that time that I’m usually trying to either get my favorite toddler to fall asleep or cleaning up from dinner, washing dishes, and getting babies’ bottles ready for the next day.

So, what’s there to be discouraged about? It’s the end of the day and I’m tired. Wondering if I really accomplished anything. Reliving every mundane moment and wrestling with its significance, or lack thereof. Fighting guilt over what I didn’t accomplish…

I wish I’d played with the babies more. Did my toddler get too much screen time? I still didn’t get that bathroom cleaned! How many diapers did I change today? Is that really all I can say I did?

These thoughts, and a million others, run through my mind while I attempt to reset our house for the next day. More often than I’d like to admit, I’m also inwardly groaning at how similar tomorrow will be to today. Sometimes this season of life feels like a perpetual Groundhog Day!

And it’s not like my days are bad! There are plenty of fun moments each day and I love my family. My husband is a kind, servant-hearted man who serves me so well. Our toddler is hilarious, and I love seeing his personality unfold more and more. The twins are growing so fast and are some of the happiest babies I’ve ever met. And it’s an incredible blessing to be able to stay home with them—not something I ever want to take for granted.

But sometimes, mundane feels hard.

Lessons in the Mundane

Maybe for you, too? On these middle-of-the-week nights I have to rehearse a lot of truth if I’m going to fight well. Here are a few of the things I’m working on “remembering” when things feel hard:

1. Every day matters because every day has been ordained by God.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm 139:16).

2. Every day matters because God wastes nothing—he will use everything to make me more like Jesus.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:28-29).

3. Every day matters because God isn’t withholding anything from me. 
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11).

4. Every day matters because God made it.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).

5. Every day matters because eternal life is real.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life” (John 5:24).

Every day—regardless of how much or how little I accomplished, how “exciting” it was or was not, or how fulfilled I feel at the end of it—matters. Every day of loving my husband, disciplining my toddler, caring for my babies, and tidying up the house matters.

In her book, Beholding and Becoming, Ruth Chou Simons puts it like this: “Faithfulness in the unremarkable daily tasks often goes unnoticed—but not to the God who numbers your days. To our all-seeing God, everyday faithfulness is an act of worship and not just an act of survival.”

Worship! Not just survival. Every day faithfulness matters to the God who sees me every day. These are the days God has ordained for his glory and my good—praise God from whom all blessings flow!