Thankful for Dirty Laundry

I saw a greeting card awhile back that stuck with me. On the front was a picture of a busy Mom carrying a heaping load of laundry through a house cluttered with kids' toys. Inside it read: "I can't wait to blog about my day." I could so relate! My days have been filled lately with all the "normal" stuff of life: doing laundry, changing diapers, feeding 3 hungry little mouths, tying shoes, helping with homework, doing dishes, getting groceries. The kind of things that don't exactly wow anyone or ooze with profoundness.

But then I thought, "why do I only think I can post a blog when something profound happens?" I want to remember... and celebrate... these busy days of all the "normal" stuff of being a wife and mom-of-3.

I'm reading another Don Miller book (A Million Miles in a Thousand Years) that is all about Story and how the Author (God) has created us each to have our own stories within the bigger Story ...His plan of creation, love, & redemption. Each of our lives are telling a story, even if the little details of each day seem pretty mundane sometime.

Anna is also learning about story-writing in school. She's learning that a story needs a beginning, and end, and at least 3 juicy details in the middle. She wrote a precious little essay about what she's thankful for this Thanksgiving. It's all neatly organized with a beginning and a concluding statement, complete with illustrations.

But sometimes life just isn't like that. We don't always have a concise summary statement or the story doesn't necessarily have a nice plot with a conclusion to finish it all up nicely. Sometimes life just plain doesn't make sense. Sometimes we have to just keep going through the motions of each day without understanding the bigger picture, or Story.

And I'm coming to realize that that's okay. I don't need to have it all figured out or summed up or beautifully illustrated. I simply need to trust the Author and then keep being obedient by fulfilling my every-day calling, doing ordinary things with His extraordinary love and power at work within me, trusting that He will use it all as He unfolds His Story.

And so, this Thanksgiving, it's the simple, every-day things of life, like dirty laundry, that I'm most thankful for.