Celebrating Monotony
Last night I was playing with my youngest son Brewer. I was pretending to be asleep on the couch and each time he walked by me I would jump up and scream at him. He would run off laughing every single time. We did this over and over and over until I just couldn’t take it anymore. He never got tired of it. Each time he acted as if he was surprised I jumped up.
It reminded me of my favorite G.K. Chesterton quote:
Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.
I was reminded how numb and blind I become to the small wonders around me.
brilliant sunrise
great conversation
beautiful smile
good meal
big hug
contagious laughter
loyal friends
All of these things I take for granted simply because they can become common place in my life. But I want the appetite of infancy. I want to celebrate life and live grateful for each and every moment. However, there are times I think I’ve sinned and grown old, tired, bitter, anxious and judgmental. I’m blinded to the wonders of God around me.
So what simple, maybe even redundant thing do you need to be thankful for today?
44 Comments:
I need to be thankful for laundry. I loathe it, but have realized that having laundry to do for my family means several things:
1. I have a husband and children that are part of my life
2. I have running water and electricity
3. I have clothes to keep us warm in this cold weather
4. We have the money to pay for the clothes, electricity and water
It is the simple things that are SOOO monotonous (especially for moms) that we need to be the most thankful for. Thanks for the great reminder today.
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Amy Lafayette
9:11 am
without a doubt i am thankful to wake up each day beside the most beautiful and loyal best friend i could ever hope for! she is everything i am not and that is just one of the things i love and admire about her. she is the glue that keeps me together and i tend to not recognize that enough. I thank God for her and my boys daily but it is easy to get caught up in life and neglect to show them you are thankful for who they are…
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davefarris
9:13 am
@Amy Lafayette, I’m so going to forward your comment to my wife.
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Pete Wilson
9:14 am
when i come home from work everyday…my dog acts like its been forever since she’s seen me last…tongue out and tail wagging!
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Anna
9:15 am
I always try to remind myself to take the time to give lots of love to my family when they leave in the morning. It sounds horrible to say, but the day is long & what if something happened to them & I didn’t send them off in the right way? Not just a quick “bye” but a real hug & kisses & an “I love you”. I thank God every day for them, I can’t believe God loves me so much to give me exactly what I wanted…a husband & kids to love…so simple yet so complicated!!
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Maryaz
9:16 am
Such a great quote!! We do the “pretend to be asleep” thing with Maggie too.
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Jamie
9:19 am
I’m so grateful right now for the things of a home, food, water, and clothes while so much of the world does not. What blessings He has given us.
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Fran
9:23 am
I love the monotony of the same man coming home to me each evening (for over 26 years) and still seeing the love in his eyes.
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SHerri
9:24 am
This really doesn’t relate to the question posed at the end of the post, but…
Thank you Pete for your insight in life. I look forward to reading your posts everyday. There is always something I take away that I can use to make someone elses day better.
Today, it will be to not take the important things in life for granted.
Thank you and God Bless,
Ben
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countrybumpkin70
9:28 am
reading the cat in the hat to my 3 year old. again and again.
and i’m stealing that quote for my blog.
oh, how i needed that today at the end of a very monotonous week!
thanks!
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Courtney
9:34 am
Gulp. This is hard to admit, but here I go. My precious 4 1/2 year old daughter is more affectionate than any child I’ve ever encountered. We just had a baby. Jaxon is a mere 2 1/2 weeks old. When I have a baby I need my physical space (he’s my third). I am breastfeeding so I feel confined a lot. It’s a mental thing. Because of this, her affection is starting to annoy me and I’ve noticed that I try to avoid her hugs and kisses sometimes.
Admitting this makes me cringe and cry. I am so ashamed. But it’s honest and I don’t know what to do about it. I love her deep in my very soul and yet I need her to stop touching me so much right now. What’s wrong with me?
Heidi Reed
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candidchatter
9:41 am
Every evening when we sit down to dinner, we end our prayers by going around the table and letting each person tell one thing they are thankful for that day. Lots of times it is just, “I’m thankful to have a warm house,” or “I’m thankful we still have power today after the snowstorm.” When it’s been a tough day and my thoughts have been too negative, this brings me back to earth and helps me see that there are lots of good, ordinary things in my life.
That’s also why I named my blog “Reveling in the Ordinary.” Makes me remember that, even though I’m no superstar or celebrity, I still have a cool life!
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Jan Connair
9:45 am
@Heidi, you have just gone first in naming something I have been ashamed about for 21 years now. Thank you! I have 5, and when No. 2 came along, I found myself doing the same thing to No. 1. Happened that way each time a new baby came along. I think I’m going to stop feeling guilty about that today. They all know I love them deeply, and in the end that’s what counts. But if you can make yourself give your dd just a few more hugs today, I’d say go for it. You’ll be happier with yourself years from now.
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Jan Connair
9:48 am
Wow…great quote by Chesterton….he is one of my favorites.
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Beth Taylor
10:12 am
Pete-
Reminds me of late Pastor Kyle Lake’s last message….
“Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun.
If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time.
If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well.
Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own.
If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift.”
Everything is beautiful
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Bobby Williams
10:29 am
This reminds me of my favorite commercial of all time and I haven’t seen it in years…a Dad and a little gorl are sitting under a tree during a sunset eating a Lifesaver. As the candy melts, the sun goes down and at the end, the little girl says softly “Do it again, Daddy” — I can just see God saying “Sure thing!”
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bookworm
10:31 am
My daughter, who is 2 1/2, and my youngest son, who is 16 mos, play in my make up every morning while I am getting ready for work…It’s my fault, but it drives me insane! You know, in a hurry, always late, gotta get out the door, so I don’t have time to relish the fact that they simply want to spend the time with me – Instead I scream at them “to get out of it!” and they don’t…
That is a time of day that I should be thankful for and I am not…I also have to yell at my oldest son every morning to get on his socks…Because he is always too busy talking to me…and we miss the bus…but I forget to notice that the reason he doesn’t put on his shoes & socks and the reason we miss the bus is because he is busy talking to me! I should be thankful for that, because I know it won’t be long before he quits talking to me completely…
Children are awesome! I am thankful for that and I will remember this post for a long time! Thanks for the help with the realization of what I neglect to see everyday!
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alison
10:35 am
Thank you God. Thank you for waking me up. Thank you for the seasons. Thank you for coffee mugs and scarves. Thank you for the people that let me in traffic. Thank you for my little dinged up car. Thank you for weekends. Thank you for Crosspoint.
thank you for giving me the opportunity every day to know you a little bit more.
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Sarah S
10:36 am
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. I work from home and can get tired of being home all the time. But we just bought this, our first home, a few months ago. For the first month or two I thought I’d never get tired of looking outside at the birds and squirrels while I worked. But, sadly, I’m now having to remind myself for this beautiful gift…
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Lisa from NC
10:46 am
With my niece staying with me and she is homeless right now, it is the roof over my own head, I appreciate it but now it is even more magnified.
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bustersdaughter
10:54 am
God’s faithfulness -
The opportunity to get up each time I fall.
I’ve been struggling to take my quiet time, pray and do scripture reading but the thought of each time I do it, God saying “Do it again!”, has me excited for the next one.
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chrissulli
11:00 am
For the laughter of a small child.
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John
11:09 am
to you through courtney…
and i just wrote it up on my blog, too…after a monotonous week with little kids…or maybe not so monotonous after all…andi wonder about the implications of monotony allowed to permeate our life with God…
I liked sitting on the couch with my 5-year-old and repeatedly tickling him as he said, “again, mommy. do it again!”. That was yesterday, and it was beautiful.
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robyn beckley vining
11:21 am
I just finished my daily exercise when I read your post so the answer was easy…Exercise! You reminded me that instead of counting down the minutes and should be thankful for the health and vitality to use those muscles in my 50′s. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
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Barbara Wilder
11:25 am
I travelled last week to So. Cal with my mom and a friend. I didn’t realize God would take that trip and remind me to be thankful for all the small things in my day. My friend was a “negative nelly type girl” always cold, the walk was always too far, she was too tired, didn’t feel well, etc. God used those snippets to show me how the palm trees were glowing from the morning sun, that the sky was crystal blue, that I was able to walk to the convention center because I had two legs and an able body, that there is a delight in my world when I see new paper or flowers for scrapbookings, that someone made me cookies just ’cause… the small things remind me that God is in the details…. I am ever more thankful for even the smallest thing, my dog who came and woke me up when I didn’t get up at the normal time, a daughter who isn’t a morning person who scraped the windows and warmed up the car, its in the little we see a Faithful God, wow
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Kristi O
11:29 am
A brilliant post. You and Chesterton are very right. What we see in children I also saw in my grandfather who was rather aged when I was born and died at 91 when I was 18. He would sit in his back yard under the maple and simply enjoy the birds, squirrels, his garden and the breezes on a summer evening. I miss those days and ability to enjoy the simple, unremarkable and repetitive things. We have grown old and cynical. I admit that freely and often wonder what it would take not only for me as an individual but us all as a society to get closer to being able to see through those eyes again. There are moments it comes back to me, but they are fleeting in a world in a hurry to go nowhere.
von Rum
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vonrum
11:51 am
You have no idea how bad I needed to read this today.
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Cindy B.- St Louis
12:31 pm
That quote is excellent. Thank you for sharing that. I love the variety on your blog.
I need to be thankful for being in more since we’re home schooling this year. My children wanted to take a year ‘off’ and do school with each other and with me. That’s a tremendous blessing.
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Anita
12:49 pm
my family
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becky
1:18 pm
@Anita, that is so cool. Having kids that love each other and want to be together is something I often overlook!
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Pete Wilson
2:06 pm
The kindness of a stranger. I was so blessed by my experience at Trader Joes. I felt loved, accepted, APPRECIATED, just for buying groceries! I know God used those people today to show me His kindness and love.
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Miranda
2:20 pm
Taking a breath.
Being able to go to the store and buy something whether I need or want it.
HAVING A JOB.
I think that is one reason I LOVE working with Autistic kids- they sometimes see details everyone misses in everyday life. I have so many stories of how my eyes were literally OPENED by comments by an autistic child. My favorite memory is working with a 10 yr old autistic girl. We were on UNC Chapel Hill’s campus and she stopped at every since monument and read the transcription and inspected it. Then we went by every tree and plant and really looked at the flowers and leaves. Two years ago this girl could not read, could barely talk and could not express herself. I loved reading word by word all the transcriptions with her and describing the flowers with all of our senses. I had been on that campus for 4 years as an undergraduate and never once read one of the statues or really tried to figure out what flowers there were. All those questions kids ask us- why, how, what- sometimes get annoying but they show the details we usually take for granted.
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Jessica
2:24 pm
My sons and all their awesomeness!
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Pam
2:25 pm
“So what simple, maybe even redundant thing do you need to be thankful for today?”
Wow. Too many to list. Jack (my husband) would top the list. Even wrote that in my journal today. His faith is so simple and true and he has taught me so much about unconditional love, it’s overwhelming. Almost 18 years and it’s like yesterday we met. Sometimes the day-to-day creeps in and we both know it — and decide that “today’s THE day” and we take off on an adventure. Sometimes it’s to the grocery store. Sometimes it’s to Cades Cove. Sometimes.. well… ’nuff said!
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Faye
3:01 pm
Hi Pete, I am truly learning to rejoice in the mundane. We are trying to spend no money and so I have to take care of what we have. That makes today a cleaning and organizing day, along with a homeschooling day, which nearly every day is already. I am so happy today even though I cannot spend. Usually we buy just the usual – skincare products, food, tea, razor refills, makeup for my makeup-obsessed daughter, gas for the car. But it all adds up.
So not spending allows me to focus on the NOW and on the kids and also my new book project which I was hoping you could help me with. Could you please email me and I can forward the information along to you? I need stories about people who have been like Jesus to you…. =) thanks sooooo much!!!
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Andrea Ludwig
3:06 pm
Hey Andrea. You can email here: pete@crosspoint.tv
I would be more than happy to take a look at it.
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Pete Wilson
3:52 pm
I’m rejoicing right now in the cup of tea at my right hand as I type. Freshly brewed Lady Grey (tea leaves rather than tea bags) smells like heaven, and made all the more delicious because it was made for me by my husband with love and care.
I sigh and moan at the thought of emptying the dishwasher (I know, how hard is my life?!) then remember how unutterably grateful and delighted I was just one short year ago when we got a dishwasher in our kitchen for the very first time. “Do it again!” does not leap to my lips when I contemplate domestic chores, or the more everyday tasks of working life but I do know that I feel more anchored by the presence of those tasks.
I’ve never read that GK Chesterton quote before. It’s fantastic, thank you for sharing it with us. Where is it from originally?
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bringonthejoy
4:34 pm
@Jan — Thank you for allowing me to breathe and feel normal again. I have been giving her more hugs today just as you suggested and you know what, it feels good and she smiles so big. I want to hang on to that. So thanks.
XO,
Heidi
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candidchatter
4:36 pm
Oh that so speaks to me today as God has been convicting me in the area of my choices … bad vs. good, good vs. best … thanks for sharing. I am off to be obedient to His calling!
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Debra
4:58 pm
@bringthejoy, If I remember correctly it’s in “Orthodoxy”.
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Pete Wilson
5:23 pm
Today I am thankful for…
1. Easy access to medicine when sick.
2. Enough layers to keep me toasty warm when it’s freezing.
3. Friends and family who are willing to pray for me at anytime.
4. Fuzzy white 70lb dog who likes to cuddle (She keeps me warm too!)
I love stopping to look at what I should be thankful for. It’s like a breath of fresh air.
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Stephanie
6:21 pm
- Getting to watch the kid-like sparkle in my 91-year old mother’s eyes when we pull up to a MacDonald’s drive-through and order a strawberry shake (and then get the pleasure of hearing the splurp-splurp-slurp as she drinks it down with kid-like joy).
-Having frequent (daily and more) tickle fights with my 14-year old son – and he still laughs and still finds it fun to let mom tackle him down and tickle!!! The glee and the fun erupts again, just like he was 2 or 7 or…14!
- Putting the top down on a convertible rental car, on my way up to a Board meeting in Santa Barbra, watching the beauty of the sun bouncing off the water, and wondering what those people do for a living that allows them to go to the beach mid-day!!
- Thankful for every breath I take past the last one….
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Vicki
9:53 pm
The lil’ guy is sick (he’s four)- so I’ve been sleeping on a make-shift bed (two worn-out baby mattresses pushed together) in his room. Every night he wakes up and slides out of his bed and onto those mattresses. Can’t wait for him to be well (its been a week) and my back is aching for my bed – but I’ll miss these last few nights.
A couple of quotes that echo Chesterton:
“Delight is rare for adults, though not for children. If you want to see what delight looks like, go by any school yard sometime when kids, little kids, kindergartners and first graders, come out for their recess break. They simply run around and shriek. Now that’s delight.” -Ronald Rolheiser The Holy Longing
“In Western culture, the joyous shouting of children often irritates us because it interferes with our depression.” -Ronald Rolheiser The Holy Longing
LOL! Ain’t it the truth?!
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shane ogle
12:14 am
thats my favorite gk chesteron quote too.
from ‘orthodoxy”.
and our Father is older than we….
awesome.
thanks for your thoughts.
[Reply]
jess
3:04 pm
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