The Vocation of Motherhood

Tackle every task as a direct response to God, just as if He were asking you "Will you go do your laundry now?" Just say, "Yes, I will." And smile at Him. Then you'll be moving ever closer to the heart of your Mother's Rule.

--Holly Pierlot, A Mother's Rule of Life

Oof.

Sort of puts things in perspective, don't it?

This quote struck me last night, and a blog I've been looking at lately, Conversion Diary, had another quote today:

Duty before holiness.

This sounds like an oxymoron at first, but it might be more clear if we said Duty before "holiness". In other words, God has clearly called you to something, and that something usually has its boring days or its days when everybody is whining and pooping at once and the hamburger isn't defrosted. (Clearly, I'm called to motherhood.) It can be tempting to neglect the duty God has placed before us--like washing dishes or doing the laundry--for something "holier" like spiritual reading, church work, or...ahem, writing blog posts.

I think this is because, quite simply, we like to define holiness. Doing what God has asked you to do is always more holy and important than doing something that fits our own definition of holiness. If we get to define holiness, we'll always achieve it; and Isaiah says that all our goodness is like filthy rags. If we do something "holy" instead of the actual task God has placed before us, no matter how routine or small, then we are not being holy, we are being disobedient.

Sort of puts a whole new spin on doing laundry and dishes, and helps me understand how everything can be done for the glory of God. Not that I argue with that Scripture, because after all it is Scripture, but sometimes it's hard to see how, practically, I can wash up the counter for the glory of God. If, in actual fact, He has asked me to wash up the counter, than washing up the counter as if He was watching me is doing it to the glory of God. And, incidentally, He is watching me.

I think this might also be something like the "practice of the presence of God" that Brother Andrew talks about.

Anyhow, worth thinking about today as you deal with your own versions of laundry, dishes, and poopy diapers.

Cheers,

Breanna