Tedium or Rhythm?

I found myself standing at the sink staring at the mound of dirty pots and utensils awaiting attention. I don't know why this particular moment or situation seemed any different from the hundreds, nay thousands, of times before, but this time I paused to question the significance (or lack thereof) of this kind of repetition.

I had been preparing dinner for the better part of an hour. Cutting board, knives, sauce pans and a large colander were only a few of the remnants giving witness to the process. The meal was not an elaborate one, but you would not have known that from the mess I'd made.

I thought to myself, "We'll have this eaten in fifteen minutes and then I'll spend another block of time cleaning it all up again." In that instant, the tedium overwhelmed me. I thought about all the processes necessary for the running of a household that must be done over and over and over again. Laundry is worn, dirtied, washed, dried, folded, and put away with care - only to be pulled out, worn, and dirtied again.

It almost seems ludicrous to do it... clean the house, mop the floors, change the sheets, wash the dishes... ALL tasks that will just need to be done again in a manner of days or even hours. It's a never-ending process set to automatic repeat.

Is it really tedium though?

The answer to that question is actually a matter of the heart. Are these tasks being done from the place of a servant's heart or from a heart that is self-serving?

A self-serving heart will resent the time and effort put forth. It will value its own priorities and desires. A servant's heart on the other hand will see the beauty and worth, not necessarily in the task itself, bur for whom that task is done. Perspective is everything.

My son's church in Spring, Texas, talks a great deal about the rhythms of discipleship. They practice a pattern, a repetition that brings individuals closer and closer to the Lord as they rest, read, worship, study, celebrate, serve, and pray. What's really interesting is that this circular pattern sometimes looks only two-dimensional. In reality, I think it's three. The repetition always brings one back to the most important thing, but each time there is growth. It's more like a spiral moving steadily upward.

I love that!

I would venture to say that the seemingly mundane tasks that demand our attention day in and day out do much the same thing, if done with the proper heart perspective. The repetition always brings us back to the most important thing. We do what we do... whatever it may be... for the Lord first and foremost, as a thank offering for all His many blessings; and we also do what we do out of love for those we are privileged to care for.

In the right and proper frame of heart the meals we prepare, the dishes we wash, the laundry we fold, the floors we mop are rhythms of discipleship too, and each time that repetition brings us back to the most important thing, we are reminded of our higher calling, and in THAT calling...

there is never tedium.