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Last updated on July 26th, 2024 at 02:15 pm
I’m the sort of person who’s happiest when I’m busy at work. I find joy and pleasure in creating and tidying up, but that doesn’t mean I never get tired of daily dishes and other mundane little tasks.
Most often I hear from readers that they have no motivation for cleaning up or getting organized. This is understandable, considering that our culture focuses so heavily on career and spotlight. These little, mundane, hidden tasks are lost among a backdrop of titles and world-changing movements.
But I believe that changing the world begins within our homes.
A former atheist turned Catholic-convert stated that as she focused her attention on the home, she found no meaning in it as an atheist. Once she began looking at it through the Christian worldview, homemaking became meaningful.
I know many of my readers are not Christians. But as human beings, we search for meaning in why we do certain things. So this post seeks to bring you a different perspective on what keeps me motivated to do the daily tasks that can at times be so tiresome.
If you have not found motivation for cleaning and tidying your home, here are ideas I ponder about the deeper meaning of mundane tasks.
(And I invite you to look through a different lens to ponder them, too.)
As I wash dishes, fold laundry, fix yet another snack, and do other little tasks, I often think of these words from St Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa):
“Wash the plate not because it is dirty nor because you are told to wash it, but because you love the person who will use it next.”
Surely, if she can enter the slums of poverty and disease to help and love strangers, I can wash the dirty dishes for those whom I love most.
“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
― St. Therese of Lisieux
There are often very small tasks to be done that are irritating to do but more irritating when put off.
For me, this is usually when soap dispensers aren’t filled or it’s in the form of an overflowing trash can. When I take time to do these little irritating tasks, instead of fuming over it, I think of my sweet little one or of the sacrifices my husband makes for me (and how small taking out the trash is in the scheme of things!).
I think of St Therese of Lisieux, who always spoke of doing things in her littleness. I, too, am little, so I do small things for those I love.
“You aspire to great things? Begin with little ones.”
—St Augustine of Hippo
Small tasks within the hidden home life help us to go out into the world to do great things. As I match and fold my husband’s dress socks (a task I despise for no good reason) or iron his work shirts, I ponder how he can serve God in his work. My little efforts at home help him to show up to do this work.
Each time a make another snack for my child, I’m not just nourishing her body. These small things, done with love, nourish her soul and will stick with her for her life. I remember my mom making little treats for us. Those moments from childhood helped me to know that I am loved.
“The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.”
–Pope Benedict XVI
This might be a stretch for my non-Christian readers, but when I’m struggling under the weight of all there is to do, I offer that suffering for others. Could my offering the dishes for mothers around the world who have nothing to feed their children mean anything? It can—because I have faith that it can.
This is where a Christian worldview truly brings meaning to the small tasks within the home.
Once again, I know many of my readers are not Christians. I’m offering this perspective because we all strive for meaning in doing what we do. And the Christian worldview gives us that.
I am called to serve, even in the mundane tasks, with joy and the love of Christ in my heart.
This is beautiful and very helpful. As I was navigating from the email link to the page (not knowing what the article would contain), I had a thought about how I overcame my annoyance at doing dishes, and it was through a women’s group at church. Somehow the study of early church life and families made me see doing dishes as a loving act of service instead of an annoying, perpetual waste of time. I love the idea of offering up these tasks, too! Thank you for this reflection!
Hi Shannon, praise God for seeing these tasks with a new perspective!