The Significance of the Mundane

I love my job. I really do. Working with kids can be incredibly rewarding and I love the times when something clicks and suddenly all your work has been worth it in the life of a four-year-old. But though there are some very special moments, most of my job is accomplished in the little things - the actions that seem insignificant.

I remind one of my three-year-olds for the upteenth time that we use our words and not our hands. I listen to the lisping ramblings of one of my little boys about the pirate ship he received for his birthday. We go over what a triangle is and what an oval is and why they are different for the third time in one morning. I pick up another little girl with a skinned knee, give her a hug and find a band-aid to sooth the pain. I sing another song, tell another story, do another craft. Day after day after day.

And somehow, it all matters. These little moments add up into something that actually changes lives. They lay the foundation for the future of these precious kids, for good or for ill. And yet I so easily forget it and fall into the trap of thinking that it's alright if I get frustrated this time - they should have known better. Maybe they should have. But I can pursue love in all things. I think it doesn't matter if I tune out of this rambling story about a pirate ship or a dolphin named "Winter", considering all the others I have listened to. But I forget that to my preschoolers, listening to their story is demonstrating that they are valuable, that their words have meaning.

But more than that, I so easily miss that it is in the mundane that the foundation for the gospel is laid. I have the privilege to show these little ones that Christ is my everything, that He is infinitely valuable and good, and that His redemption has changed me, given me hope, and can do the same for them.

Growing up, I don't remember my parents expressly preaching the gospel to us, though I know they did. What I do remember is that they faithfully lived it. I remember, and by the grace of God I believe.

Because of the sovereign way that the Lord works, the mundane matters. God used it to save my life and He can do the same in the lives of my preschoolers. My faithfulness in those "insignificant" moments can and will be used by the Lord for the glory of His name and the good of the kids I have come to love. I demonstrate my love for Him and for them by doing everything for His glory. And if I cannot be trusted with these little moments, why would He trust me with ones that I would call significant?