Messy Again: Work as for the Lord

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men." ~Colossians 3:23

I did a full reset on the house last Friday night — dishes, laundry, vacuuming, bathrooms—you name it I did it. I went to bed proud of it. By Tuesday afternoon it looked like none of that ever happened. Bottles in the sink, burp cloths on every surface, a laundry basket refilling itself out of nowhere. Before our daughter, the house would stay clean for days. Now I've learned clean is a moment, not a state.

At first that bothered me more than it should have. I kept treating the mess like a problem I'd already solved once, so its return felt like proof I was missing a crucial lesson in parenthood . But a newborn doesn't make more mess because I'm doing something wrong. She makes more mess because she needs more from us, more often, and the house is just showing the evidence of that.

Work as for the Lord: Why the Mess Doesn't Cancel the Meaning

That's what it looks like to work as for the Lord — doing the same chore again tomorrow without resenting that it resets.

Paul wrote to people doing genuinely unglamorous, repetitive work — household servants, not anyone with a title — when he said, "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward" (Colossians 3:23-24). He wasn't talking about work that finishes. He was talking about work that resets the next day and still counts.

Jesus said something similar about the smallest tasks: "whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much" (Luke 16:10). I used to think that verse was about being trusted with bigger things later. Lately, I’m reading that verse in a whole new way.

Here's what's actually shifted for me: the mess isn't interrupting the meaningful part of my day. The meaningful part of my day is taking care of my family; even if that means taking out the dirty diapers over and over and over again.

What would change if you stopped treating the parts of your day that reset overnight as beneath the work God actually cares about?

Daily Practice: Pick one chore today that you already know will need doing again tomorrow — dishes, laundry, picking up toys, whatever it is at your house. Do it as an offering instead of a chore, and thank God that He sees the parts of your day nobody else notices.

Always improve the present moment.