In my home I have a little sign that reads, “Eat, Sleep, Play, Repeat”. I bought it a couple of years ago thinking it was a cute turn of phrase. I didn’t know it would become a lifestyle. Sequestered in our homes, not allowed to socialize, no work, no school, no coffee meetups, I find myself living those exact words. Every day we wake to more of the same. More eating. More keeping the kids from maiming one another. More wondering what will happen next. More hovering over the news. More pointless television. More sleeping.
It all feels mindless. The days have run together. I have to check the calendar to be certain of the date. I’m struggling to keep the kids busy. Struggling to keep myself busy. Fighting the current of social angst and terror the media wants us to ride. I don’t like it, this helpless uselessness. I dislike days that lack purpose. I abhor the growing feeling that nothing matters, there’s nothing to do, and the bleak look at a foreseeable future that remains the same.
A couple of days ago, in the middle of my self-indulgent pity party, God reiterated to me the question Martin Luther once posed, “What will you do in the mundane days of faithfulness?” Now Martin Luther isn’t a guy that conjures up images of the mundane. Writer of the 95 Thesis giving birth to the Reformation. Bible translator. Church builder. Dean of Theology. Writer. Preacher. Inspiration. Hero. Nothing mundane there. But his well-worded question incited some questions of my own. Questions I needed to ask. Questions I needed to answer.
What am I doing with all this time I have to be quiet and still? What am I doing with the extra time I have with my children? What are we doing to minister to others when we can’t leave our home? And what should we be doing?
Just like that, I’m back to the little sign, third word…but what if it said “pray” not “play”? That is the answer! The most important thing I can do is pray more. See, prayer changes me. It changes my outlook on the situation. It encourages trust in God who already has this situation in hand. Prayer centers my soul and gives me extra strength to cope with tempers flaring because we’ve been in the same space with the same people for far too long. Prayer draws me to a place of clarity and peace. It allows me to talk to God, to bring my concerns, my complaints, my confessions to Him. It also allows God to talk to me, to point out the places I’m slipping, some changes I’ve been avoiding, some encouragement I wouldn’t have heard if I hadn’t used the quiet stillness to listen.
It also gives me time to read. Not that I don’t ordinarily read my Bible every day. I do. But having no real schedule to keep allows me time to read more casually, absorb the words, hear the promises. My children are also being more intentional about reading their Bibles and devotional books. Often we talk about what we read that day, a question they have, or some clarification of the details surrounding the Minor Prophets. We don’t always have this. School starts so early and homework ends so late. Our normal schedule often doesn’t allow for leisurely Bible chats. So while we plod along through our mundane days, we are blessed with moments together with God that we otherwise might not have gotten.
The ministry part of this leaves me frustrated. There is literally nothing I can do but pray. So I do. I pray for our leaders to be wise, but not ridiculous. I pray for our people to be strong, but not crazy. I pray for those I know who are high risk to stay safe. I pray for an end to this illness. Mostly, I pray God’s will be done. It’s the hardest prayer I have ever prayed.
Daily I long for something more exciting. I don’t want to be on lockdown for the next 6 months. I want to do something. Feed people. Offer hope. Give help. Ease loneliness. Defeat despair. I want to do something for God. I want to brighten the world, not just my house. Surely there is something I can do besides what I’m doing. Sitting at home praying feels so small. So insignificant. So…mundane.
In times like these, we need the faithfulness. The constant refusal to give up, to quit, to turn aside. The consistent pursuit of the goal. Down the same path in the same plodding manner, even when the scenery doesn’t change, when it seems no one even knows you exist, your work is pointless, your faithfulness meaningless. In the middle of your mundane, you are tempted to turn aside, let up a little, take a day off from the faithful grind.
The writer of Hebrews penned words we need to hear now more than ever before, “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.” (Hebrews 2:1-2, NLT) It would be so easy to be lulled to sleep performing the mundane tasks of our current situation. Easy to stay up late, sleep in, lose our drive. The inability to physically attend church makes it easy to let up spiritually. Less Scripture. Less Prayer. Less Jesus. Easy drifting. Drifting into complacency. Drifting into sin. We really can’t afford that. The price is too steep. (Hebrews 4:1,11) Don’t drift. Keep Praying. (I Thessalonians 5:17) Keep the faith. (Mark 11:22)
Because God needs you. Right now all you are doing seems boring, mundane, maybe even pointless. But God needs you. Not because He is incapable of doing His work on His own, but because He chooses to delegate some of it. He tells us to be light and salt in a dark and unsavory world. (Matthew 5:13-16) He calls us to go out into the world preaching and teaching the Gospel. (Mark 16:15-16) He commissions us to be laborers together with Him. (I Corinthians 3:9) Even if we can’t truly socialize, our attitudes with the people in the grocery store, at the gas station, or the food delivery person can make an impact. We might not be able to go out preaching and teaching, but we can teach our children and study with our spouses so we don’t drift away.
Laboring together with God doesn’t always look like we think it will. God doesn’t think like we do. (Isaiah 55:8-9) I never dreamed we’d be trying to minister for Jesus from our living rooms. It doesn’t matter. Wherever you are, you are right where God placed you. (Even if it’s your living room.) Whatever your tasks, they are God-given. (Even four rounds of dishes!) Whoever you speak to and interact with throughout your day, they are your mission field. (Even if it’s only your children.) Nothing you do is mundane if you do it all to the glory of God (Ecclesiastes 9:10). No word you speak is mundane if it is spoken in love. (Ephesians 4:15, Romans 12:10) Everything you do is vitally important to God.
So “what will you do in the mundane days of faithfulness?” Will the “ sameness” of your days lull you into drifting? Or will you pray, read, and strengthen your soul? Will you be full of Jesus or full of the fear the media is peddling? The mundane is your mission. You were made for this moment. Are you being faithful?