Glorious in the Mundane and Being in the Present

A friend of mine recently recommended a podcast to me called “Glorious in the Mundane” hosted by Christy Nockels and I’ve listened to a few episodes lately.  This podcast has been such an encouragement to me and my mental health because as I’ve entered into this new season of motherhood, I’ve found much of my life to be filled with mundane tasks that seem to never end!  Endless loads of laundry, changing a thousand diapers a day, doing the same monotonous things over and over again.  

I struggled with this before I was a mom too.  Much of our lives are filled with doing the same menial tasks over and over again and it can sometimes feel overwhelming and pointless.  I remember when I was struggling with a period of depression at one point just thinking that so much of what I do feels meaningless and I wondered what the point of it was.  It’s easy to get discouraged when you feel the monotony of life.

 As I was listening to this podcast, Christy talks about this very real struggle in motherhood and life in general.  She also spoke about how so often we are in a season of life just waiting for it to be over and desperately wanting to get to the next stage.  Why is that?  Why is it so hard for me to be content where I am and to find the joy in the little things each day?  Someday I’m going to look back on these days and wish I was back here.  I know so much of my mental health struggles have been made worse when I  constantly wish away the present and hope for the future or long for the past.  It’s not wrong to look forward to things in the future, or to fondly remember the past, but there is beauty in the present and so much for us to learn right here, right now.  

When I focus on making the mundane glorious, and being content in the present, life is much richer.  Enjoy these moments, because before you know it, they are gone and you are in the next stage wishing back the last one.  No matter what the menial task is that we are doing, we can do it with love.  We can honour God and our families and friends in the most trivial tasks just as much as the tasks that we deem much more important.  I don’t believe He values one over the other.  What He cares about is my attitude when I’m doing those tasks or how I’m serving my family and the world around me in the present.  I will waste my life if I am constantly wishing for the future, hoping I can do great things when the great things that I am meant to do are the little, everyday tasks set before me each and every day.  

Someday I will look back and I’ll miss the little newborn stage, and maybe I’ll even miss the thousands of diapers I changed because I’ll miss my little guy being little enough to fall asleep on me and being able to cuddle with him in the afternoon in bed watching a movie.  Right now it’s hard not to wish this time away because I sit at home all day and I am recovering from birth and longing for my life to get into a normal routine.  

So I’m trying to savour every moment and be in the present because one day, I won’t have anyone else’s laundry to do and I will wish I did.  I want to be thankful for the present and all the lessons it is teaching me.  And let me tell you, this fills me with such joy and gratitude that my mental health benefits from in so many ways.  So no matter what stage you are in whether it be waiting to graduate from school, waiting to be married, waiting to be a parent, waiting to buy a house, waiting, waiting, waiting…choose to be grateful for this time and be in the present.  And work at making the mundane glorious!

And for those who are going through a painful season, as hard as it is, don’t wish that away either.  God teaches us so much in our pain and struggles and I know I would not be the same person I am today if God had not allowed the pain and suffering that I have gone through.  You don’t have to be glad you are going through a rough season, but thank God for what He is teaching you through this and who He is making you into.  There is something to learn even in this and someday you can look back on it and catch a glimpse of what He was doing.  He is making you even more beautiful than you already are.  Take heart because He has overcome and He knows what He is doing.  I promise you it will be for your good and His glory <3  Be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing….  

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”  

1 Corinthians 10:31 

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 

2 Corinthians 4:17

Transition and How it Affects my Mental Health

I wanted to write a post about my mental health post-birth and as I thought about what to write, I thought it would be good to write about transitions and the fear of change whether that change is good or bad.  I wrote in a previous post about how fearful I was of how I would feel after I gave birth and how the hormones and the change and lack of sleep would affect my mental health. 

 I’ve struggled with anxiety for so long and battled with bouts of depression so I was fearful of what this new stage would bring.  So far, I have been so thankful because my mental health has been great.  I have not struggled with anxiety at all bringing a new baby home and with all that this entails.  This surprises me because in much less stressful and life-changing situations, I have been consumed with anxiety and it has often lead to depression.  

I do not know why I am feeling so well right now, but I am thankful.  This is not to say it has all been easy.  I have still struggled with the transition of life with a newborn and how this has changed my life.  Sometimes I wonder what I have done!  But I am thankful for this little life that God has entrusted Matt and I with.  

I have moments of being overwhelmed and fearful.  I often cry, but I know that it is normal in this time.  I am still fearful of the future and as good as I feel, it kind of scares me, because I wonder if it is just a temporary high that I will crash from soon.  I wonder how I will cope with being depressed and anxious and still having to care for a little life.  

Change is scary and it is something we can always worry about.  However, worrying about it does nothing for us.  That is something I have learned throughout this pregnancy and now taking care of my little boy.  I worried a lot about my mental health after.  I worried about the birth experience.  I worried about how my life would change forever once I had a baby.  So many people told me their scary birth stories, their easy birth stories, etc., and yet everyone’s journey is different and just because something happened to someone else, does not mean it will happen to me or you.  We can always be fearful of the future, but it doesn’t accomplish anything except rob us of our joy and peace in the present.  

I have clung to the fact that no matter what I face in any transition or stage of life that God is present and He will give me the grace and strength to face whatever comes my way.  Whether that be an easy birth or a difficult one.  Whether that be an easy recovery or a difficult one.  Whether my mental health is wonderful or whether it is not doing well. 

 I think my point of this post is just to encourage you not to worry about transition and change.  It is normal to be fearful of it, but know that God is present no matter what you are going through.  I will never be alone in whatever I face.  There is always joy and peace and comfort waiting for me in Him whether I can see it at the time or not.  Worry will just ruin my present and not accomplish anything for my future.  This is what I am clinging to in this present stage.  I do not know what the future holds, but I do know that God has been gracious to me so far and I know He will continue to be.  He wants what is best for me in every situation.  

The other day I was praying and was asking God for an easy night…that the baby would sleep and that I could get some rest.  However, I was convicted in that moment to not ask for what would be easy, but to pray that God would give me the strength to handle whatever would come that night.  Whether my night be easy or hard, I prayed that God would give me the grace, strength, and patience to face it, and that in His strength, I could make it through that night whatever it might bring.  I don’t think it was wrong to ask for sleep, but I would rather God grow my character and help me rise to the challenges of what comes my way whatever that may be, instead of asking for life to be easy.  In His strength, I can accomplish whatever He has set before me.  I do not need to be afraid.  I do not need to worry about the future.  He’s got this and therefore, so do I.  This is also my prayer for you. Have courage friend, you can face the transitions and unknowns of life and do not have to be consumed by fear.  You never know how it will turn out!  

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

-Matthew 6:25-34