Glimpses of Grace – Focus Gathering

by Gloria Furman

My oldest child called to me from the hallway. “Mom, whoa. Something really crazy happened to the bathroom. You need to come see this.”

At that moment I knew in my heart that I was probably going to spend the next half hour disinfecting every porous surface in the bathroom after an epic potty training accident. And maybe throw away the bathroom rug… again. Then the doorbell rang. Making a mess and then opening our home seem to go together around here.

Later that afternoon I brushed some cracker crumbs off of a seat cushion, flopped onto the couch, and wondered out loud, “What did I do today?” I looked around—our artificial Christmas tree [still hanging out at the time] was slightly ajar from the tumble it took earlier, the stack of receipts I intended to organize were perched atop a mountain range of wrinkling laundry, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a new piece of artwork my son had created by applying Crayola’s Burnt Sienna directly to the wall.

While I know that my work as a homemaker is never done, there is a peace that passes all understanding when I remember the finished work of Christ on the cross, his ongoing work of sanctification in my life, and his eschatologically-oriented work of bringing all things under his feet.

Our ordinary lives in the home are both mundane and majestic. From sun-up until sundown we go about the good work that God has called us to (and in some seasons we even work throughout the night). As the days and nights unfold we experience occasional plot twists, dramatic monologues, and even an occasional ironic episode. We expect all of these things. “That’s life,” we say. We’re a motley crew of sinners made in God’s image who are trying to live alongside each other under the gospel of God’s grace. It’s beautiful and messy.

But I fear that in my life in the home, even as I busy myself with this good, God-given work, I’m prone to miss the reminders of the motif of grace that God has written into the story of my everyday life. The good work that I’m called to is replete with the glorious and eternal, yet it’s enacted through the humble and finite. Even so, my soul tends to be discouraged by what I see right in front of me, so I need help fixing my eyes on Jesus as I scale that mountain of laundry.

Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in Your Home is about exploring the role the gospel plays in motivating and empowering us in the daily and seemingly mundane rhythms of life. How can a homemaker enjoy her heavenly Father’s care and provision while she toils day and night? What does our work in the home have to do with God’s will to sanctify us? How does the gospel motivate and empower us to joyfully do the work God has called us to? How can we experience the pleasure of our extraordinary God as he’s planted us in our ordinary lives in the home?

I’m excited to be talking about these things in a few months at a Focus Gathering during the upcoming Gospel Coalition National Conference in Orlando.

Our whole family, actually, is looking forward to making the big trip across the pond to the States. Any time we drive past the airport here in Dubai the kids try to guess which plane they’re going to ride on. My husband Dave will be speaking at a workshop during the TGC13 pre-conference. So if you’re in Orlando and you see our jet-lagging family, please come say hi!

Tagged as: Glimpses of Grace, TGC