Many of us live life with a feeling that what we do on an everyday basis is inconsequential, unimportant, insignificant. Mothers used to working who are on maternity leave feel that their routines of feeding, winding, changing nappies, bathing and clothing a newborn are repetitive and unfulfilling (despite being utterly exhausting as well!) Those working in manual jobs feel that there is little value to the back-breaking work which leaves them shattered at the end of a day. Those serving in cafes feel that feeding ungrateful people who are always in a hurry is of no real significance in the ‘grand scheme of things.’ We are worn down by a sense of busyness which leaves us dissatisfied or by work that we perceive as meaningless and often look enviously at others whose work seems more fulfilling or important to us.
I was going to write about ‘the God of the inconsequential’, a God who is interested in our daily routines and everyday work, but ultimately I find that I cannot do that, because what we deem inconsequential is not actually unimportant or insignificant. God, instead, invests the ordinary and the mundane with meaning. Without the mother’s care, the baby would die: how can we then deem this work insignificant, if it is nurturing life, health and wellbeing? Without the labourer who works to build our homes or the farmer who works to feed us, we would have no dwellings and no food: how can we then deem this work unimportant, if it provides shelter and nutrition? Without the waiter who provides a service and a friendly smile, many people would neither be fed nor have contact with others: how can we then deem this work unfulfilling if it reaches out to others?
The problem we so often have is a limited perspective. The Bible urges to do whatever we do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Col 3:16) Paul tells the Ephesians, ‘Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.’ (Eph 6:7-8) Jacob’s hard years of labour for Laban passed quickly because he was motivated by love (see Gen 29:20); the monotony and apparently meaningless nature of our work can often be mitigated if we understand the bigger picture of that work or can see our service as being unto God.
There is nothing inconsequential or insignificant about lives that are wholly dedicated to God. We may not be able to readily see significance in our work (unlike the surgeon whose interventions may very visibly save someone’s life), but we can trust that God’s purposes can be worked out even through the ordinary and the boring. G. K. Chesterton reminded us that few grown-up people are strong enough to exult in monotony, but ‘perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony’, creating a new sunrise each morning and each snowflake unique in its snowflake character! When we see the inconsequential in this light, we have strength to carry on.
