As I sit here on my couch and finishing my coffee I look straight ahead at the mound of dishes in my sink, I am grasping for the motivation to get up and do the simple things I know I should. Can I just tell you, I hate housework! I REALLY DO! It is a discipline I am embracing. I tend to have no issue with motivation for the things that I deem important or major. I can muster up the energy to plan an event, meet with someone to encourage them, or pray because those things I enjoy. However, housework, ESPECIALLY dishes….not so much! As a matter of fact I loathe them. My husband usually does them for me because he knows this and it is his way of showing me love. I guess for some reason he didn’t really love me much the evening before! Kidding!
I sit here looking at the obvious and knowing it needs to be done, yet unwilling to move….UNTIL. I see the picture 
that I had intentionally placed above my sink that states. ORDINARY FAITHFULNESS IS THE STUFF OF MIRACLES. Faithfulness is a choice and when you are choosing faithfulness it is usually surrounded by things you do NOT want to do. Most people don’t want the ordinary things, they want the miracle. However, when you realize that faithfulness to the ordinary are the things that miracles are made of, it can change your perspective. With that inspiration in front of my face LITERALLY I washed my dishes. It was one of the sweetest times I have had doing a chore I hate. Here is story of ordinary faithfulness and it producing the miraculous.
There was mom whose day started before the break of dawn. She was up early and did the same chores she did every morning everyday. She made breakfast, home made bread, and prepared the food that her husband had brought home the night before. This particular morning was hard, the new baby had cried a little more then usual, and she was dragging, lacking the energy and desire to even care if anyone ate but she still knew she had work to do. After her morning routine of cooking breakfast, cleaning up, making lunches and getting everyone up for the day, she kissed her husband goodbye for his long day of labor. Her son of 10 came and ask if he could go to the next town where there was a large gathering and party being held. “EVERYONE was going!” he begged. She talked to her neighbors and found comfort in the invitation that he could go with them and they would watch over him. She didn’t want to tell I’m no and deny him this fun experience but the long night with the baby exhausted her. She knew he would be safe with them and to be honest welcomed the quiet that would come. So, she packed his lunch for the long day and and kissed him on the head saying, “Have a good time, be kind, and behave.”
The day passed on and the darkness came. Her son came home, different then he left. His countenance had
changed and there was a light in him that wasn’t there before. She couldn’t even ask about his uncontrollable excitement before he began to unfold his day. What seemed like nothing at that beginning of the day had turned into much more then anyone could have imagined. Her son told her how it was getting late and the crowds there hungry. How the “men in charge” were wanting to send everyone away, but the “boss” said “No, feed them.” They said it would cost to much. Then the men saw my lunch…the one you packed for me and asked if they could use it. I remembered what you said. Be kind. So I nodded yes and gave it to them. AND you WON’T BELIEVE what happened next!
As the boy finished his story, her unbelief was diminished as the neighbors confirmed what seemed like a childhood exageration. The mom wiped her tears of joy away, hugged him through his excitement, and told him how proud she was of his generosity.
As hard, as ordinary, and as uneventful as her day was she knew she had a part in the making of a miracle. The food that she had made for the little one that she loved, out of simple faithfulness that morning, was the miracle that her son experienced and delivered to many. The bread she had made that morning through her sleepy eyes and with her tired hands not only supplied his needs but the needs of thousands. Her ordinary labor of love was what the miracle came from. How many time have we not seen our ordinary faithfulness in the miracles all around us because we were not the ones there to experience. Yet, we still had a hand in it. Don’t discount ordinary faithfulness, for it is the stuff of miracles. Now I know this story is not found just like this in the Bible, but you never know what could have been. Regardless of the details, someone had to make the bread, catch the fish, and pack the lunch.
If you would like an inspirational reminder check our Elise’s prints. They each have a story as to WHY it was made as it was and serves to remind us that we are not alone in this walk. www.littlelunchmaker.com .Thank you Elise for inspiring me.