Nothing Much

I'm in that stage of life where you feel like you are incredibly busy all the time. Where you fall into bed at night and sigh with relief. Where the calendar fills up faster than you can imagine. And then it happens. Someone asks THE question, "So what have you been up to?" I find myself forever answering, "Oh nothing much, how about you?" It's not that I don't care to open up or that I don't have a To Do list a mile long or cares on my mind that I could share. It's just that I'm living life. Some people might call it the day in and day out of living. You know, up at 7am for time with God, 7:30 breakfast, 8am starts the routine of violin, reading, math, history, grammar, spelling, science, geography...admit it, you're getting bored just reading a partial list. Late afternoon is mowing, cleaning, laundry, or paying bills. Then there is supper to be made, little guys to be bathed, books to be read, silly songs to be sung and sword fights to be won. In between, there are jokes to be laughed at and hearts and minds to be molded.

I have a very full life, but not what most would consider exciting. Or at least not exciting to hear about. It certainly is exciting to live it, that is if I have the right perspective. You see we tend to put so much value on going and doing and being that we can foolishly look outside the windows of our lives and think contentment lies out there somewhere. We don't see the ministry to be had in our own back yard or even in the next room, for all the sighs and longings of go over there and do that. We practically trip over the basin and the towel with which to serve our families or our neighbors, on our way to the couch because we're just so tired and depressed over the "meaningless" to do list that never seems to end.

When I finally understood that it is accomplishing my to do list that teaches my children constancy. It is dusting the furniture and washing the clothes that pulls me outside of myself.
It is checking the mail for an elderly neighbor that keeps me aware of the hurting and the lonely in this world. When I see the reality in all the "mundane" things in my life, it gives them meaning. It gives me purpose. It draws me outside of my natural tendency to "fulfill the desires of my flesh" by running from one thing to another in a never ending search for joy, peace, and contentment. And most importantly, it is being faithful in the "small things" that is pleasing to my Father.

So the next time you ask me how I'm doing, I promise I won't subject you to the list on my calender. I'll probably just say something like, "Oh, I'm just busy living life." But I'm going to keep reminding myself of reality. I'm cleaning my house to serve my family , I'm educating my boys to make them sharp tools for God to use as He sees fit, I'm looking for the lonely and hurting in my sphere of influence that I can give a cup of cold water in Jesus' name.