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
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