When I wrote my first book, I didn’t take a month off work and rent a cabin in the woods. That may have been a nice setting, but I wrote in the early morning hours before work and the late evening hours when work was over. The same is true for writing my second book, and my third.

Giving into fantasies, or believing myths, is easy when we have big goals. If only we could just quit this one thing, or wake up an hour earlier, then we could get it all done. If only we had no distractions and total silence and focus, everything would be possible. If only I went on this one retreat, took this one course, or found the perfect prayer, I’d become the person that I want to be.

The truth is, as many of the modern saints have shared, the path to holiness in our daily lives. Making breakfast for the children, helping with math homework, and even doing the laundry is how we become holy.

I’m not making a second piece of toast, I’m ensuring my children have a full breakfast. I’m not trying to remember how to solve equations with fractions, I’m helping my child prepare for their future. I’m not getting mustard stains out of shirts, I’m serving my family.

In these mundane, rote, and mediocre tasks, I’m giving of myself. While I make the breakfast, the children laugh. When I help with homework, their minds unlock. When I’m doing the laundry, they’re free to run and play.

God has trusted us to care for our families and to share his title. Like the cave in Bethlehem, it’s in the simple, the humble, even the dirt, that we find Christ and the simple path to holiness.

Tags: Spirituality