Parallels: Home and Spiritual Renovation—Walls and Other Mundane Work (plus a song!)

For all the quick-and-done sparkle that home improvement programs and videos convey, there is another aspect to home renovation: It is this: Renovation requires hard work— often repetitive, tiring, less-than-glamorous work!

Mundane tasks like sanding drywall, priming walls, painting walls, and painting walls again can feel…well, a little boring and tiresome. A lot of time and effort went into our sheet rock and pine walls for the basement and 3-season porch. Because we had a tight budget, I had to do much of the work alone or with my brother-in-law. I gained a deeper appreciation for the people who do this tedious work day-in and day-out. Most people pass by a finished wall and barely notice the quality of work. However, the reality is that the job of making a wall look good requires a good eye, patience, skill, and the tenacity to keep working on it until it looks right.

Even as I worked through these mundane tasks, my mind sometimes wandered. Then I remembered Brother Lawrence. 

Brother Lawrence was a man who lived in the 17th Century and served as a kitchen worker and sandal repairman for a group of Monks. His work was considered by some to be mundane and simple. Yet Brother Lawrence saw his everyday tasks as opportunities to experience God.  He viewed his work as a form of prayer, and because of this He was transformed to look more and more like Christ through the years. Over his lifetime, people were drawn to him because of his transparent love for God, wisdom, and unselfish service to others. The book “Practicing the Presence of God” is a compilation of Brother Lawrence’s personal reflections. It has endured through the centuries and has helped many people like me to a deeper experience of God.

With this in mind I started paying attention to God as I worked, viewing mundane tasks as opportunities to grow in deeper friendship with Him. Having quality worship music playing would lead me to sing along or engage in a deeper comprehension of God’s love and power. Often as I did this, people would come to mind, and I prayed for them. I also thought about the people who would one day use the space I was working on, and asked God to consecrate it for His use in their lives.

Spiritual Renovation

We live in a culture that emphasizes big achievements and big dreams. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but if our spiritual life is based on those things alone most of us would not only fail miserably, but also miss meeting God in the lesser moments of life.

It’s all about perspective. Seeking God in the ordinary tasks of life is of utmost importance, as much if not more so than the big events. Why? Because there are far more ordinary events in life than the grand, mountaintop experiences of God. Answering God’s call in those small tasks may be one of the essential steps to a bigger call He has planned. In the meantime, we can choose to experience and enjoy God in the everyday moments, big and small. There’s a verse from Psalm 37 that comes to mind:

“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart”. (Psalm 37:4)

There are at least three things to take away from this verse:

1)    Most importantly, the reward for delighting in God—even in the mundane moments—is God Himself! In other words, as we desire God more, He gives more of Himself to us. Choosing to delight in God in our everyday moments and tasks is a true act of worship by which we encounter God and His immense love for us.

2)    The same God who knows us each intimately is more than generous to give us all that He knows will works best for us and our future. Delighting in God is an act of surrender that gives Him total control over our lives, plans, and future.

3)    The delight we show to God can actually lead us to better reflect His love to other people. It was said of Brother Lawrence that people were attracted to him and felt comfortable coming to him for advice and counsel. I’m sure he would say that what they saw in him was God—he was only reflecting God, whom he delighted in meeting every day.

As you go through the ordinary and mundane tasks of life: at school, on a job, parenting, care-giving, walking the dog, washing the dishes…and all the other things that come to mind—I pray that you will view those as opportunities to experience God more deeply, as well as to better love the people you meet and serve.

I’ve included a YouTube link to a song I wrote and recorded a couple of years ago. It came out of an everyday moment, and I hope it helps you in your daily time with God:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgC3xrJhnvw

God bless you!

Chris Atkins