The boring beauty of the Mundane

I have been working at a tiny clinic for the last few months that is kind of in the middle of no-where. I only have one week left, but I was just thinking I was going to miss Saturday mornings here. Every morning I eat breakfast in the hotel, then sit on the couch and drink tea while I write a blog. It’s not revolutionary. It’s really quite boring. And it’s really quite necessary- not like I know anyone here or am working Saturdays or have anywhere else to go. It’s just the regular and mundane. And far too often, I totally take that for granted. And it’s hard to recreate the mundane, but it’s easy to completely miss it.  

A friend recently told me that I need to remember that the mundane is life. It makes up the majority of what we will ever be. Your day to day life is not always miracles and incredible testimonies and obvious tallies of you changing the world. Sometimes your day to day life is just the regular and the boring and the mundane. But the mundane isn’t necessarily meant to be a curse.

I’ve seen many people live their entire life waiting for the highs- the incredible destination vacation, the next life-changing conference, the greatest new fad or most remarkable new experience. But it’s taken me a long time to realize that life isn’t worth living if most of it is just you sitting around waiting for the next great something to happen. What about all the things you miss while you wait anxiously for something huge and spectacular?

When was the last time you were overjoyed at your least favorite part of your job? When was the last time you spent marveling at all the incredible things that had to happen in your body for you to read this sentence? When was the last time you sat and enjoyed the boring rather than sat anxiously waiting for something “worthwhile and new?”

I can complain about having to go get gas for my car, and write notes in clinic, or making a list for groceries. Or I can be thankful that there is a regular to complain about. I can look for the beauty in that moment. And I can just rest in the monotony. Because when even the repetition seems great, how much more incredible will that next testimony, or next story, or next great high really be when it does come? Though no one else may care that you faithfully added numbers up/ate/smiled today, God does. Entrusted you with a life that you are taking excellent care of- your own! And even that simplicity is an incredible thing, whether you managed to change the world while doing it or just got yourself positioned and ready for the next time you get to.

The beauty of the mundane is hard for a storyteller and perfectionist like me. Far too often, we just expect our job and our lives to be perfect and non-stop incredibleness. And when it’s all said and done- the boring doesn’t sell- it’s hard to make a good memorable story or a viral post out of it! Usually it just fades away completely with time. In the meantime, it’s far too easy to get lost and distracted by all the things we wait for or all the things that don’t work instead of the numerous, tiny beautiful things that do.

What kind of expectations have you put on your work and your life that is demanding too much and not enjoying what you have?

How are you doing enjoying and working through the seemingly purposeless and mundane?