I once took a Christian writing correspondence class. It helped me in some ways, but in other ways I hated it. Here’s why: they actually had the gall to talk about how to sell your work for money. I was 19. I believed that writing was a ministry for gosh darn’s sake and how secular could you be to ask for money for a ministry? 

I can’t believe I’m telling you this story. The me of today lives lightyears away from that girl. She thought that to talk about Jesus and do work for his kingdom had to look a certain way or it meant nothing. That hanging up the laundry or cooking dinner or laughing with girlfriends was just the stuff you had to “get through” to get to the good stuff. She had boxes in her mental attic marked “Spiritual. Physical. Emotional. Extra.” Nothing mattered but talking about Jesus. 

Bless her. 

Jesus didn’t come to do away with the physical world. He came to redeem it. 

Religion separates out these “spiritual disciplines” that look so foreign to actual, real life and says, “If you don’t practice spirituality this way, you’ve failed. Your life is meaningless.” Catherine McNiel in her book Long Days of Small Things (the book I’m rereading for the third summer in a row) puts it this way: 

“Spirituality, too, is often mistaken for something that can and should be pristine and spotless. We think of ‘spiritual’ as peaceful and silent, our and untarnished, having something to do with our emotions and thoughts and nothing at all to do with our bodies.”

Being married has taught me a lot about the intricacies of relationships. I love sitting on the sunporch drinking coffee with my husband. I enjoy taking a drive with him, listening to good music. We like savoring yummy food in local restaurants together. But those simple, tidy moments don’t add up to the sum of living. 

No, we work in the yard and take out the trash, we go hiking with our kids and grill pork steaks for supper, we take turns making the morning coffee and giving each other a quick walkthrough of our day as he heads out to work. We bump into each other all day long and the minutes that add up to years make a life. 

If reading my Bible, praying in solitude and discussing Bible studies are the only ways I can get to know God, what about the rest of my life? Did Jesus die on the cross for me to have a quick devo coffee date with him a few times a week while trying to survive the rest of life on my own in stress? 

If kingdom work only includes explaining theology to others or getting them to come to church, why do we have so much life to live outside of those opportunities? 

I love how Catherine continues in her book, “The Son of God makes no effort at all to set himself apart from the rabble of daily life. He sits among the running, screaming children and steps into the putrid fishing boat. He is God, but he is man…Jesus of Nazareth is so entirely one of them they can hardly find anything special about him at all. He fits right in with the messy busyness of everyday life.” 

You guys, this has been my saving grace. This truth – God with us makes every part of our lives beautiful and richly spiritual just by his presence with us – this has saved my life.  

Once upon a time I would never have stooped to write a post about making your own laundry soap, or how to do beginner’s yoga, or growing houseplants. They were beneath my efforts as a Christian. 

But today I want to try it. I couldn’t have survived survival mode days if God didn’t give me wisdom for everyday life. He rescued me from the need to perform perfectly and changed how I see my day to day routine. There is always a new way to try something to bring joy and ease into the hard times of life. 

I’m going to be writing more practical posts on this blog. These days, instead of using the worn out, stereotypical word “Christian” to describe myself, I prefer “Christ-follower.” I am following Jesus and stepping right into the mess of daily life with him. I no longer fear that I’m not spending enough time in spiritual things, because I know now he makes everything an opportunity for worship. I can get to know him when I plunge my hands into the suds just as well as when I light a candle and crack open my study Bible. 

Shining a light on the hard places means more than just the emotional times. I’ve learned that God redeems even doing my dishes or cleaning out my towel cupboard. 

Jesus is Emmanuel, “God with us.” How can that simple shift change how we see our everyday lives? Would you tell me how it makes a difference for you? 

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