There is Value in What You DoGod calls many of His most valued workers from the unknown multitude.
~Luke 14:23~
One of the biggest struggles I faced and still do from time to time, is feeling a sense of worth or value in what I do. It is not an easy job being a stay-at-home wife, mother & home educator. There are days where you feel like you haven't accomplished a single thing only to come back and start it all over again the next day. I remember this feeling much more so when my children were smaller.
Mom - it is hard doing what you do on a daily basis!
You don't always get the pat on the back for a job well done. There is rarely a sense of completion to a task because once you think it is done and turn around for five minutes, you have to go back and redo what you just did, again and again and again. Support from others is not always there when you need it most and if anything try to discourage you. You soon lose your sense of humor about things and wonder if what you do is really worth it.
Oh Yes! Dear Lady...Yes!
In the book, Streams In The Desert - Volume One, which is a wonderful devotional reading, there is an entry for February 24th that mentions our discontent and the mediocrity we feel in our day to day tasks...
You may be very discontented with yourself. You are no genius, have no brilliant gifts, and are inconspicuous for any special faculty. Mediocrity is the law of your existence. Your days are remarkable for nothing but sameness and insipidity. Yet you may live a great life.
Yet you may live a great life? I know it may be hard to see that right now but you do bring so much value to being the wife God has called you to be, the mother to the children He has blessed you with and to the home in which He has given to you to make it a haven and refuge for those loved ones in your life - every single day - even when it doesn't feel like it - even in the little things. It is in the those little things that bring the biggest glory and honor to our Father. Let me say that one again...
It is in those little things that bring the biggest glory and honor to our Father. Don't forget that!
It doesn't always show and it won't be an immediate reflection - but it will. I can see so much of what I did (and struggled with) come to bear fruit many years later. At the time, I couldn't see that because I was far too busy being discontent, feeling sorry for myself and looking at the world for approval.
Another small paragraph for the February 24th entry says,
We are doing more good than we know, sowing seeds starting streamlets, giving men true thoughts of Christ, to which they will refer one day as the first things that started them thinking of Him; and, of my part, I shall be satisfied if no great mausoleum is raised over my grave, but that simple souls shall gather there when I am gone, and say,
"He was a good man; he wrought no miracles, but he spake words about Christ, which led me to know Him for myself."
~George Matheson.
I think where many of us get "caught up" so-to-speak is in the great mausoleum raised over us. We think that we need to have constant recognition in what we do and say. Yes, it is nice to be noticed and to have that pat on the back for a job well done but not at the expense of our loved ones and yourself. That thought dangerously skirts with idolism. I wish I had spent more time sowing seeds and starting streamlets - what a great way to put that!
Ladies...there are quite a few of us who have experienced what you are going through right now. You are not alone! Please know that! The feelings you have or have had are not anything new - no matter what you think or how horrible you may think it is for feeling and thinking those things. We all have been there and quite honestly, many of us (myself included) still have a ways to go in our journey. It is one that, if done together, we can make it through. Do not let the things of this world bring discontentment into your life. Hard to do...I know! I'm right there with you!
"Thy Hidden Ones"
(Psalms 83:3)
Thick green leaves from the soft brown earth,
Happy springtime hath called them forth;
First faint promise of summer bloom
Breathes from the fragrant, sweet perfume,
Under the leaves.
Lift them! what marvelous beauty lies
Hidden beneath, from our thoughtless eyes!
Mayflowers, rosy or purest white,
Lift their cups to the sudden light,
Under the leaves.
Are there no lives whose holy deeds--
Seen by no eye save His who reads
Motive and action -- in silence grow
Into rare beauty, and bud and blow
Under the leaves.
Fair white flowers of faith and trust,
Springing from spirits bruised and crushed;
Blossoms of love, rose-tinted and bright,
Touched and painted with Heaven's own light
Under the leaves.
Full fresh clusters of duty borne,
Fairest of all in that shadow grown;
Wondrous the fragrance that sweet and rare
Comes from the flower-cups hidden there
Under the leaves.
Though unseen by our vision dim,
Bud and blossom are known to Him;
Wait we content for His heavenly ray--
Wait till our Master Himself one day
Lifteth the leaves.
The poem above is from the dated entry. To think that in what I do for my husband, my children and in my home is a wondrous fragrance that is sweet and rare goes up into heaven. Others may not see it, we ourselves may not see it but God does! He will bless and honor you in all that you do. Try and think of caring for your husband, children and home in that manner...as an honor...because it is!
How I hope and pray that in all you do this day brings a sweet perfume to our Father above and that He bless you in all you do in your homes today!
Much Love to You All,
Mrs. Catherine
♥ | 
Jenn
Love,
Laurie