when you feel small

We are in the middle of unpacking and transforming this house into a home.  I am celebrating small things like eating dinner at the table and loading the dishwasher.  Straightening up the pantry seems fun and arranging the household cleaners for easy access makes me feel accomplished.  This is not the norm, though.  The daily moments of momming generally do not fall in to the category of "exciting."  Doing laundry, making dinner, reading books, picking up blocks, wiping noses, scrubbing toilets -- these are the highlights of most days.  And then I repeat again the next day.  While exciting right now, I know the routine will once again lose its sparkle.  I'll face again the nagging question of if it is enough.

Tell me you've been there.  Have you sometimes felt like your kingdom work is just so small in this season?  Not that you don't appreciate the magnitude of shaping little souls and pointing them to Jesus.  Of course, you do or you wouldn't be spending your days wrapped up in it.  I do, too, I wouldn't trade this gig for another.  But some days it just feels small.  Hidden away.  Behind the scenes.  Monotonous.

Here's the thing though, we have a God in heaven that appreciates the small as well as the great.  Rather than tell you that you are doing the most important job on earth {we've all heard it before}, I'm telling you that the small tucked-away-hidden moments are seen.  Knowing that He sees me even in my most minuscule tasks gives me hope.  There are Scriptures that talk about ants!  Holy words recorded for all time about ants.  (see: Proverbs 6:6-8)  We are also told that God even knows the number of hairs on our heads. (see: Luke 12:7)  And I am guessing the number of hairs on my head changes moment by moment {and dramatically so every time I shower.}

If our great and glorious God has found lessons for us in ants and counts our hairs, is there any reason to doubt that He sees each moment? And not only that, but He has appointed it.  The boring tasks I do today are exactly what He has planned for me today.   Whether it is playing with play-doh or making chili or folding towels, He sees it.  He directed it.  He created me for it.  Even when it feels small, it is part of His plan.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

Believing that the small matters and acknowledging that it is part of His plan for me, gives me hope.  The stubborn kind of hope that folds laundry with joy and unloads the dishwasher with gratitude.