10. God's Grace in the Mundane with Maryanne Challies Helms
In today’s episode we’re chatting with Maryanne Challies Helms about how to glorify the Lord even in the midst of what we might consider to be the “mundane” everyday work of life and ministry. Maryanne is a wife and mother of four. Maryanne embodies so well what it looks like to faithfully live as a Christian, especially in the current online spaces, which we talk about some in this episode! We pray this episode encourages you to see your work—even if it is ordinary or mundane—as beautiful unto the Lord and glorifying to him.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
What does ministry look like for you these days?
What are some categories of “mundane ministry” in which you or the listeners might be serving (service in the home, service in the church nursery, service to aging parents, etc.)?
Have you ever felt tired or weary as a result of this kind of particular service?
How does God use these monotonous tasks to conform us to the image of Christ?
How do you counsel your heart when you feel like you’re always behind and can never seem to get ahead?
Let’s consider Christ’s humanity—we know that we do not serve a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. During his earthly ministry, did Jesus serve in ways that may have been seen as mundane or invaluable?
What was his response? How might his example exhort and encourage us?
What are some passages of Scripture that encourage you as you continue to serve others, even in the unseen places?
What brings you rest when you feel weary?
NOTES & QUOTES
“We need Christ's strength for the daily, hourly work that he's given to us, regardless of what that looks like.”
“Christ is honored and glorified through our perseverance. And that perseverance also becomes a distinctly Christian brand—that Christians are persevering people.”
“We love to break this idea of perseverance down into heroic terms. We like to glorify the saints of the past and think we need to do these heroic, noteworthy memoir type, biographical things for Christ. But really, only one or two percent of people are ever memorialized in writing. For the rest of us our lives are lived invisibly and quietly. And yet our perseverance, our endurance is what Christ chooses to honor. He rejoices over us with singing. We diminish our work. Christ never diminishes the ordinary. We are the ones who diminish the ordinary.”
“It helps to remember that the struggle we have over mundane is more of a modern concept. I don't know that historically the church was thinking so much about, ‘Is my work valuable before the eyes of the world?’ Nobody could see each other. So we were forced to just live the best lives we could in front of our local community.”
“Not only is this an unbiblical assumption you're making about yourself, that your work has no worth because it's invisible, but also historically, this has never been the way the church has handled the idea of work—that it has to be prominent or that it has to be on display. That's a very modern concept, largely due to technology and social media's advance in our lives. The church has always functioned with a level of privacy, and that has benefited it.”
Lauren:
You start the laundry.
make the coffee—the same way every morning.
You click the gas stovetop to life,
crack the eggs, scramble—the same way every morning.
You run the vacuum over the hardwoods,
taking care to get to that spot where the crumbs always gather—the same place every day.
You scrape the pan clean, wipe the counters,
move the laundry to the dryer,
—again and again and again.
The baby stirs, and then wakes.
you feed, change, play, and then it’s time for another nap—
again and again and again.
You fold the clothes. change the diaper—again and again and again.
You take a walk. Prep for dinner. clean the bottles. start the dishwasher—again and again and again.
You fall into bed night after night. weary—exhausted—not only at the tasks themselves, but at the monotony of it all. the fact that you do them all—again and again—and yet will face them all again the next morning.
This liturgy of days - this repeating of tasks, this work that's never completed.
Again and again and again.
The tug of the mundane pulls on your spirit,
Your heart inclines toward apathy.
Yet what is happening in these moments?
The repetition, the rhythm, again and again and again.
The call to serve, to work, to give, again and again and again.
Each time a call to notice,
To see what is happening
These liturgies form, they shape,
Overtime they mold us,
The rhythm of our lives inviting us
To lean, to trust, to work heartily as unto him.
To reflect the Father
To see the beauty of work,
To remember that these things matter.
So you start the laundry, clean the dishes—again and again and again,
This time leaning into this liturgy of days,
Realizing that even in its monotony it is doing something.
Realizing that these tasks, this work—
it is not ordinary;
it is sacred.
“That moment of Christ's death, which was the peak of his career, was actually the moment of greatest triumph. And I think that if we apply that to our daily lives, we can remember it is not death to die. There is no such thing as futility, ultimately, for the Christian. Again, that's something we tell ourselves, that's something the evil one tells us, but it is not true in the life of a Christian.”
“If it feels like death, it's probably life.”
“If it feels like death, it's probably the work of Christ polishing us, shaping us, adorning our lives with the gospel so that we really do have a more authentically humble message to share with the world. So if it feels like death, it's probably life.”
“You just have to read about Christ's earthly ministry, and you can see that he would have faced many of the same daily grind activities that we face. And somehow his example of doing all of that so well before the Father, so uncomplainingly, so gratefully and with such a posture of service is really remarkable.”
“The Lord was not only addressing our sin and our propensity to wander in Genesis, but he was also being gracious and kind and saying, ‘These boundaries, while you've earned them through your sin, I will also give them to you as a good thing.’”
“When we don't involve regular confession of our sin, we are carrying burdens we were never meant to carry.”
Lauren: Confession and gratitude. How might you incorporate these into regular rhythms of your daily life? Maybe it’s something like Maryanne mentioned of making a practice of confessing sin as you lay down in bed at night or rehearsing gratitude to the Lord through prayer during your daily or weekly walk. Or maybe it’s a practice like Hunter mentioned, incorporating prayers of gratitude into your daily tasks and rhythms like folding laundry or doing the dishes. As you do so, remember why it’s so important that we practice these spiritual disciplines. Scripture tells us that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). And Proverbs 28:13 reminds us that the one who confesses and renounces their sins is met with mercy. We’re told too that in Christ our sins are no more, removed from us as Psalm 103:12 says, “as far as the east is from the west… that’s how far he removes our transgressions from us.” And gratitude! The Psalms remind us again and again to come into the Lord’s presence with thanksgiving; to make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! Ephesians 5:20 encourages us to “Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” if you’re looking for a place to start, open up your Bible to Psalm 103 and read through the verses, giving thanks to God and allowing your soul to bless the Lord for all his benefits. Sister, what might it look like for you to practice these things daily? How might confession and gratitude shape your relationship with the Lord, leading you to deeper intimacy with him? How might you practice these spiritual rhythms alongside those who are in your daily life, that you might grow in Christ together? I’d encourage you, even today, to draw near to the Lord through confession and gratitude, and allow yourself to be met with the depths of his mercy and goodness.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What does ministry look like for you? This could be service in your home, service in the church nursery, service to aging parents, etc.
Have you ever felt tired or weary as a result of your work? Explain.
How (specifically) does Christ’s humanity and life of everyday work encourage you in your own daily work?
What are some passages of Scripture that encourage you as you serve in the unseen places? Consider memorizing one of these passages this week.
What might you do or implement in light of what you learned in this week’s episode?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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