Doers of the Unspectacular
“In our daily work no matter how important or mundane we serve God by serving the neighbor and we also participate in God's on-going providence for the human race.” – Martin Luther
Several weeks ago, I had the privilege of auditing IRBS’s class on The Two Kingdoms taught by Professor David VanDrunen. As many of you know, I recently read his excellent book on the same subject. I’ve long held to the doctrine of the Two Kingdoms, like most of the Reformed world, but it was nice to have it brought to the forefront of my mind with such clarity. On the last day of class, VanDrunen worked through the application of the Two Kingdoms in daily life. He worked through Vocation, Political-Theology, and the Church’s ministry. Obviously, I couldn’t listen to him talk about vocation without immediately applying what he said to us as homemakers.
In discussing our common vocations, VanDrunen mentioned that one of the accusations lobbed at those who hold to Two Kingdom theology is that we lack motivation for our work. If we aren’t redeeming our culture and everything is in a pre-ash state, why bother? VanDrunen gave many wonderful reasons why we should honor and work diligently in our common callings. I can’t claim that anything I’m about to say is a direct, word-for-word quote, but it is as close as I could get.
VanDrunen said that we struggle to be content with ordinary life. We want something supernatural. But God works through unspectacular ways. We are all both the doers and the beneficiaries of the unspectacular.
Oh, how my heart thrilled at this. We, HearthKeepers, are the absolute epitome of “doers of the unspectacular.” We spend our days quietly doing dishes, cleaning homes, washing the laundry. We manage schedules and grow gardens. We go grocery shopping and cook meals and wash more dishes. There is absolutely nothing stupendous about our daily chores. Even if we dive deeper into the domestic arts, we’re still only tending our small homes by managing extremely temporary things. So why did I find it so exciting to be called the doers of the unspectacular? Because this is how the Lord provides for people! I am serving God by serving my husband. Do you know how God makes sure Price Jones gets fed? By me! I daily get to be the answer to the prayer that God would provide our daily bread. I am an answer to that prayer and so are you!!! I have the deep and lasting privilege of being God’s hand of providence. I may only be cooking meat again, or washing another load of laundry, or making our old home a little cozier, but this is all God’s kindness in providing again for us today.
VanDrunen said that we may not see the big picture good in our work. We’re not saving or even changing the world. But we’re serving the Lord in our work and that itself gives it dignity.
Ladies, our work has dignity. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. We live in a culture obsessed with art and creativity. It’s easy to feel like any other labor is uncreative and a waste of space. It’s easy to feel like what we do is useless and demeaning. I doubt many of us are running around in fitted suits and Christian Louboutin heels being free and glamorous. This world often paints that as the only proper form of femininity. Managing our calling, seeking to really understand our work, growing, diligence - all this is serving the Lord even if it is only in the realm of home management. Our work is filled with a rich history and deep dignity. We can enjoy that. We can hold onto that. We can find our motivation in the dignity of our calling.
VanDrunen said that being made in the image of God is being made to work. Work is satisfying. There is enjoyment in our toil. We should pray for this satisfaction in our ordinary work.
Do we find satisfaction in our work? Are we dissatisfied? Maybe we need to ask our Heavenly Father to help us find satisfaction in cooking nourishing meals, growing our skill sets, washing our clothes, and beautifying our homes. Do we do that? Pray that the Lord will help us find a certain level of fulfillment in our daily work? We should! How much more content, calm, and quiet would our homes be, how much safer for the people who we serve would our homes be if we found our work satisfying?
VanDrunen said that working well provides a platform for sowing the seeds of the Gospel (Titus 2:9-10). All good work is a testimony that we believe the Gospel.
Many of us grew up with the push from modern evangelicalism to do the whole “door-to-door” form of evangelism. Many of us have taken on false guilt, spurred on by the raising up of neighborliness to a means of grace. But do we ever stop to think about our home management as ‘sowing the seeds of the Gospel’? When we make it our goal to have our families up and ready and in church every Sunday, do you think your neighbors don’t notice? Do you think they don’t notice us homemakers being home all day, quiet and content? Do you think they don’t notice the care for our children and husbands? Without a word, we are either showing or maligning the Gospel by our labors. This should drive us as believers to excel, study, invest, and diligently work at our unspectacular vocation. It’s a little intimidating to think about how the management of our little lives can either encourage others to revile the Gospel or praise it. (Titus 2:5)
Lastly, VanDrunen said that we should hold on to an Objective/Subjective distinction within our vocations. The question is, is our work Christian? Subjectively, everything we do—motivation and mode—is distinctively Christian. It’s done by faith! It’s all done by faith in Christ. So, yes, we’re doing something unique even in common vocations. Objectively, what we’re doing isn’t distinctly Christian. It flows from the Noahic covenant. Excellence isn’t distinctively Christian. The Noahic covenant hasn’t changed under Christ’s coming. Good is common between Christians and non-Christians.
This last point is helpful to us because it keeps us humble. There is good homemaking and bad homemaking, which has nothing to do with our standing before God. Unbelievers can be better homemakers than us and often are. We can learn to be better homemakers from a vast array of people. This is why we can read about homemaking from pagans, witches, and homosexual men. We can watch videos and even work with and have community with unbelievers in the common vocation of homemaking. We shouldn’t over-spiritualize our work or act as if only Christians understand how to keep home well. There are plenty of gifted unbelievers who manage their homes far better than we do and we should learn from them, just like a car mechanic wants to learn from the best car mechanic regardless of his religion.
Side Note: A wise man once said, “Don’t be so open-minded your brain falls out.” Don’t take me to be saying there is no danger in the world, spiritually or physically, and that we can just imbibe everything. You need to know your weaknesses and temptations. If you are tempted or your conscience is pricked by reading about how a witch tends her home, don’t read it. You are responsible for policing yourself, so please don’t read what I just said as a pass to just take in whatever without any thought to the consequences.
Clear lines help us do our work correctly, not raising it too high as if we are redeeming the world, and not pushing it too low, as if nothing here matters because it is temporary. Understanding what falls under the Noahic covenant and what falls under the Covenant of Grace is vital to doing our work right and well. Understanding that we are Sojourners and Exiles in this world helps us to love correctly and invest correctly in this life. Being homemakers is a wonderful and vast vocation, but it is a temporary vocation managing temporary things. Let’s love it for what it is, but not try to make it more than that. We aren’t saving the world by our work. We aren’t to take on God’s work or the Church’s work—a cruel burden God doesn’t ask us to bear—when we manage our homes. But there is dignity and delight in everyday work including homemaking.
