Mundane Faithfulness
In a crowded room full of strangers, she confessed her dreams to me, the ones she just recently started believing could become reality. After nearly five decades of life, more than half of which were spent caring for her kids, she finally has space to nurture her own dreams, not just the dreams of the babies she raised.
For everything there is a season.
After brunch with friends, she expressed how she wished she had spent less time worrying about her weight and more time enjoying the ones she loved. It’s okay to be pudgy, she encouraged me, because there will be time for exercise when the kids are older.
For everything there is a season.
He had a vision that God would raise him to high places, but his life didn’t reflect the dream. He waded through humiliating circumstances, grievous accusations, and extended loneliness for 13 years. But God had not forgotten his promise.
For everything there is a season.
A short stint of tension is enough to send me spiraling into desperate pleas of exasperation. Maybe it’s the word season. Our seasons only last a few months, after all. But when I hear stories from others, I realize that seasons are usually longer than we’d like. In fact, there is often a direct correlation between the length of waiting we’ve endured and the level of spiritual maturity we possess. God doesn’t waste a thing.
Like my friend who, after years of discipling tiny humans, now has decades of material to write her first book. Or my brunch buddy who finally stopped worrying about the size of her jeans, and who now focuses on the health of her home. Or like Joseph who, after 13 years of dysfunctional family dynamics, slavery, and prison, led an entire nation through a life-threatening famine.
There’s a subversive hope to be found in staying put. It’s a hope that says, “God isn’t finished here.” The planting of our feet on rocky ground points to something bigger than our circumstance. It’s easy for me to see God in the grandiose dreams and exhilarating beginnings, but he also wants to be found in the days of our mundane faithfulness.
Luke 16 says that those who are faithful with little things will also be faithful with big things. My current season may last a few weeks, several months, or many years, but my faithfulness today will have a direct impact on my influence tomorrow. What does it look like to be faithful in your season today?