Start Enjoying
- Amy Brown
- May 25
- 5 min read
You run errands, have meetings, remember practices and games, pay bills, schedule appointments…. and yet it all seems so mundane. BUT there is enjoyment to be experienced in it all.
“There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)
“I feel like I’m doing life wrong” is a sentence that settled into my spirit and lingered in my mind. A sentence that reflected exactly where I was in life and surfaced a longing for change.
Do you ever feel that you’re doing all the things but at the same time feel nothing you are doing is meaningful? You figure out what to make for breakfast, cook it, and immediately notice the mess left behind. You talk with your kids while half listening and half mentally running through everything that still needs to get done. You see toys, clothes, and random items scattered throughout the house and think, “Why am I the only one who cleans up?” You run errands, attend meetings, remember practices and games, pay bills, schedule appointments, manage the details of your family’s lives. And somehow, it can start to feel painfully mundane. Then one day we find ourselves asking, “Am I doing life wrong?”
The Lord is so kind to meet us in moments of question. When I found myself exhausted, bored, and did I mention exhausted, the Lord took me to Ecclesiastes, a book classified as part of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. God knew I needed wisdom that only comes from Him. This is what the Lord placed on my heart: “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)
I knew the Lord was telling me that there is work to be done and there will always be work to be done, especially in the realm of motherhood. However, as a mom, there is nothing better for us than to find enjoyment in our work. But how?
Did you know enjoyment means to see, understand, reveal, inspect, and experience joy?
To see the process of making breakfast as nourishing our children’s God-given vessel. To understand cleaning up as abundant provision. To realize that engaging in conversation
with your kids is one of the most cherished moments in life, that our kids actually want to share their minds and hearts with us! To inspect the random misplaced toys and clothes as an indicator of kids being comfortable in their own home. You run errands, have meetings, remember practices and games, pay bills, schedule appointments…. and yet it all seems so mundane. BUT there is enjoyment to be experienced in it all.
Over the course of this week, we are going to look at what this practically looks like and how we can start to shift our perspective from managing life to enjoying life. For today, know this truth: Enjoyment in our work as mothers starts with asking the Holy Spirit to
make our souls see the good. We cannot do it apart from God (vs 25).
Prayer: God, thank You for meeting us in the mundane, in the chaos, and in our questions. Thank You for giving us wisdom when we are lacking and letting us bring you all of our mess. Will You help us to slow down and look for the good in motherhood? To really notice the blessings? When we are overwhelmed and/or just over it, please help us to look on our lives with gratitude and have our eyes open to see You in our situations. We love You, Abba. Amen.
Faith Follow-Through:
This week, take some time to grow in motherhood and faith:
Tuesday:
Let’s assess.
I talk to a lot of moms throughout the week and the majority of the moms I’ve recently talked to said, “I’m just tired.” I feel that! I am guessing you are tired, too! Or maybe busy, anxious, numb, discontent. Enjoyment is hard to experience when we are rushed, distracted, and overwhelmed.
Mamas, we’ve got to slow down and rest. Give yourself permission to “not do it all”, to say no, and to have one mental thought at a time.
So, the best place to start: assess your current state by asking the Lord to search your heart. “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts”. Psalm 139:23. Be alert and watchful of what comes to the surface. Don’t skim over it or brush it to the side. Instead, catch it and hold it with care with the Lord. The Lord will reveal your current state.
Wednesday:
Let’s ask.
Yesterday with God’s help, we explored and identified the current state of our mom heart. Now it’s time to ask God to give us eyes to see meaning, purpose, and blessing in our mundane so that we can experience enjoyment. “Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly” Psalm 5:3.
Ask. God is a Good Father, and He loves to bless His children. He is not inconvenienced by your requests but rather, eager to meet them. Ask God to awaken your soul to see good in your current state of motherhood. Start slowing down. Slow down enough to notice the pleasures in the mundane. Change any schedule, habits, and/or behaviors the Lord leads you to change.
Thursday:
Let’s respond.
On Tuesday we explored and identified the current state of our mom-heart with help from the Holy Spirit. On Wednesday we asked God to help our soul to see good in our current state of motherhood. So today, we respond. How do we respond? With praise. “Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.” Psalm 5:7
You have a loving Father who loves you more than you’ll ever comprehend. His unfailing love allows you and me to enter into His presence so that we can experience Him. He is love, joy, grace, mercy, strength, rest. Start praising God in the mundane of motherhood and watch God transform your heart into a heart of joy. Start enjoying.
Listen to OKAY by Forrest Frank and turn it up, sister!
Written by Amy, a mom of 2 who’s learning to slow down
