Contentment.
Sometimes it is a difficult concept to grasp.
But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
– Philippians 4:10-13
In the verses above, Paul is writing to fellow believers in Philippi who hadn’t been able to show their support for him. He knew they were concerned, but that they just didn’t have an opportunity to show it. Even though their support would have been helpful to Paul, he had learned to be content no matter the circumstances.
How?
Verse 13 is key: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Often times this verse is quoted separately from the Scriptures before it, and we quote it in reference to the really, big, huge, hard, demanding things in life, those things we KNOW we Jesus for: things that scare us, things we don’t have answers for, things we just can’t see a way out of. A well-meaning brother or sister in the faith will encourage us and remind us that we can do it because of Christ, and He will strengthen us.
This is true. No doubt about it, as our God is an awesome, amazing, wonder-working God.
But what about in those areas I like to call the small places?
As wives and mothers, we face a billion small, mundane places every day and it is easy to become dissatisfied: vacuuming, diaper changes, dish washing, picking up toys, reading lessons, wiping noses, cooking meals, doing laundry, a listening ear to a husband–day in and day out, multiple times a day.
If we’re not careful, the enemy sneaks in to whisper lies to us, that we should seek more, anything else outside of our homes, that this work is nothing but drudgery, that there is freedom out there, that you need to escape. . .
I challenge you to remember that God’s grace, His strength, is available in the seemingly mundane, daily to-do’s. It is available in all those small places. It’s available right there where other’s can’t fathom the reason you’d be willing to stay at home, working to raise a family, serving and loving a husband.
Remember, what we do each day as homemakers, wives, mothers and homeschoolers is worthy work. It is blessed work. It is work with an eternal purpose. The routine tasks are just a small portion of it on eternity’s scale. Keep that in mind. Know that we can be content, right where we are–in the midst of overflowing sinks and never-ending laundry piles. God is there, too. He is right there in the middle of dinners, toys, ironing and mopping floors. He is right there and He is your way to contentment.
Like Paul, we must learn how to be and what to be depending on the needs of our situations. We must learn to be grateful for the assignment of being a wife and for motherhood. It is a precious calling that many desire to embrace, but may never know. Welcome the mundane, work through it with contentment. God has called you and He is your strength.
