Ahhh...beautiful Captivity

"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Most Christians are, at the very least, familiar with this Jeremiah 29:11 passage. It can be found on coffee mugs, framed prints, t-shirts, bookmarks. It's sometimes spoken like a "pick me up" when our circumstances are looking less than appealing. You lose your job. Well, no worries. God knows the plans he has for you. *slap on the back* Hang in there. Wait it out. Great things are to come.

And it is true. God does know. God DOES plan and think about every detail of our lives. There is a peace that comes when we *cling* to the Word. Because in it, we do find our hope for the future. But what about today?

Before all of that talk of the future greatness to come...before God speaks of giving us a coming hope. or restoring fortunes. or revealing himself to us. Before the well known scripture of verse 11 is: the list of the mundane, every day tasks. Did you know that? Perhaps not because they happen to leave that part off of the bookmark.

At the beginning of the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, it says that "These are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent to....all the people who had been taken into exile." So God was essentially writing out a hopeful letter to his people in THIS day. Because, as exiles, they really, really needed to have a NOW, Today-kind-of-Peace to cling to. Wouldn't you agree?

But the thing that He offered them was this:

"Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters;
multiply there, and do not decrease."

And what do I get from reading that, you ask? That God wasn't concerned about their plight? That He was telling them to take a number and get back to him when their "70 years of exile" were up?
No.

I read it and simply hear that God's purposes are accomplished through the everyday tasks he has set before us. God's purposes are not...and cannot be...found in wishing about the future and what will be. For He calls himself I AM. Not I Will Be. Yes, he says that a people without a vision perish. So yes, looking ahead has its value and its place. But you can't live life fully in this hour if you are fully engaged in dreaming about tomorrow. You need to walk out the tasks of the day. TODAY.

As a stay-at-home mom, these words ring especially hopeful to me. As I sometimes find myself pinning away for what will be:
When my children get older, then I'll be able to....

When my husband has finished school, then we have...

When we are finally done fixing up this house, then we'll get....

When...blah blah blah blah

But here, in black and white, God is instructing his Chosen Ones to go about their daily lives. Building up their houses...Whether physical houses or figuratively speaking, spiritual ones.
Planting gardens. Again, whether physical ones or spiritual ones..."You will reap what you sow."
Birthing generations of family. whether that family shares your genetic DNA. Or whether they are related only through Christ's blood.

Daily tasks. Accomplished only by small steps.

Building a house takes time. Any one who has built anything as big as a doghouse knows that there is MUCH involved. Many boards. Many individual nails. Many hits on that individual nail into that single 2X4 board.

It takes time. Daily. Purposefully. Intentionally. Before the entirety of the house is completed.

Just like remaining home with my girls. Because there are days when I feel like throwing up my hands and screaming "What is the point, Lord? What good am I doing here? Reading the same book over and over again? Teaching the same 'do not hit' lesson? Changing the same diaper. (Well, okay. not the SAME diaper. But you get the point. *wink*) What good am I doing, God?! Because seriously, I'm seeing nothing of substance here. At least not by the world's standard of success!"

And the Lord, in all his faithfulness, will whisper peace to my heart. And I'll get a glimpse of how fast time gets away from us...how fleeting these moments with my YOUNG girls are...how every moment of time spent with them is another nail driven into the framework of their being. The very thread of their confidence. The very foundation of their walk as a Child of God.

I don't think it's any coincidence that Jesus was a carpenter. He builds things. He builds dreams. He builds up people. And for some amazingly profound reason, he has entrusted me with the hammer, the nail, the level, ...and all the tools in His carpentry kit. So that, day by day by day by day, I can begin to build up my girls.

And in the process of the "drudgery" of the daily grind, I can trust...though at times it's only by blind faith...that his purposes for MY life are being accomplished.

That as I walk in daily obedience, completing the "mundane" with purpose. With intentionality. With unexplainable joy. And yes, with a heart full of hope for things that I am yet to see in my little girls. ...and for things that I am yet to receive from the Hand of my Lord. I will be walking into all the Fullness of God.

SO today, I hold His Hammer and Chisel (and the girls' Dr. Seuss book set) in my hand. So that I can continue to build up these three precious daughters of the King. Knowing that when my "captivity" is up...my eyes will be opened to the greatness of all these years lovingly set aside for me and my kids.