God in the Details

Well, before I start, I should clarify that I know the actual idiom is: "the devil is in the details", meaning that the details of a matter are often the most problematic. I know that's how the saying goes... and I know that can be true if you're planning a party or a camping trip. Someone inevitably forgets that we need plastic-ware and you end up with 25 people at a cookout trying to eat potato salad and soggy barbecue ribs with their fingers. So, yes. That saying is true. Gotcha.

I am actually talking about something different.

Most of my days are monotonous details. A lot of small moments consisting of doing the same things over and over... washing the exact same dishes (I'm looking at you, food processor!), washing and folding the same laundry, vacuuming the same patch of carpet, and sweeping up what appears to be the same sandwich crumbs. These aren't the devilish details of the oft-quoted idiom. These are merely the details that make up a day, and these are the days that make up a life.

My life is details. My life is repeated readings of Pete the Cat books and diaper changes. The temptation is to switch into auto pilot, silently praying away the minutes until bedtime when I can switch to something more exciting like, oh, reading an adult-level book.

It's lately that I've realized that these details of my day? God is in those. And, if I truly believe that, then these moments are holy. 

And, if these moments are holy, I can truly pray for God to get me through them.

I've started praying, lately, that God would help me complete the important tasks of my day. And, more importantly, that He would help me to prioritize what He prioritizes. Essentially, this means that if I am only 7 minutes into my elliptical workout and listening to a podcast and my daughter wakes early from her nap, then that must be what God values that day. If that is what God is valuing, then I need not grumble and stomp away from the elliptical, angrily yanking my headphones off, frustrated that my daughter interrupted My Self-Care. Instead, I can trust that God wanted me to spend seven minutes on the elliptical and then to spend the afternoon reading to my daughter. 

The same can be said for when my boys are fighting AGAIN and I just sat down to read my Bible. The Bible is a good thing, yes. It is an important thing, yes. But I don't think it's the devil trying to get me to not read my Bible by inciting violence in the hearts of my sons. I think that the opportunity to minister to my sons and train them on how to love one another is the important thing that God has for me in that moment. And, if I believe this, I won't slam my Bible shut and angrily shout out the back door for my boys to Stop. Touching. One. Another. I will trust that this is important, this is sacred, this is a teaching moment, an opportunity for ministry. And I will walk in faith and obedience to correct it.

So, let's obey. Let's pursue the good things. But... more importantly... let's submit to God's definition of what is good for us in each day.