How To Face The Daily Grind
I was on my way to work the other day. I had the radio station on that plays music from the 80’s, 90’s and now. After listening to some songs I didn’t recognize, I heard U2’s It’s A Beautiful Day. I rocked to it for a few minutes just before turning toward my company. I felt great and energized. There’s just one problem.
I don’t always feel that way.
I don’t always think it’s a beautiful day.
Some days, I think it’s a mundane grind.
And I don’t like it.
I think most of us are this way. We get up, do our thing, go home and do it all over again.
Life isn’t always a beautiful day to us. Life isn’t always a vacation. Life isn’t always a mountain top. Let’s not pretend it is.
Rather let’s embrace what God has given us. A job. A family. A house. A home.
Routines.
But let’s also look for what He is showing us and telling us in those “mundane” things.
I live in the mountains. I get to have a mountain top experience every day. I drive into the valley to go to work. The bonus? I get to drive back looking at the mountain every day. Sure, I don’t like leaving the mountaintop. But I get to drive back to it every night. I see the good and joyful in that experience.
It’s that way in most things. Like the theme song from the Facts of Life when I was a kid, “You take the good, you take the bad, you take them all and there you have the facts of life, the facts of life.”
How do you face the daily grind? By looking and seeing God’s goodness and grace in the midst of it.
Do you get fed up with the daily grind? How do you combat it?
I try to see life as a gift, each day as a page in that gift. I try to live with the idea “this is the day the Lord has made, i will rejoice and be glad in it.” Don’t always succeed but for the most part I do.
Yes, and life has a certain rhythm to it that that the Lord gives us that is comforting.
I tend to like routine, but there are times when it can feel mundane. Typically, sleep is a huge factor in how I view things.
I like routines too. Then the special non-routines seem more special.
“I live in the mountains. I get to have a mountain top experience every day. I drive into the valley to go to work.”
i’d kill to live near mountains…really…i would…
I put some good music on…I really don’t feel the grind that much…only in the morning when I have to get up….once i’m in the car….i’m fine…i tell myself it’s just Life…with Jesus!!!! and I look forward to see excited faces when I come home….my kids and my wife…
That is something I’ve definitely tried to do too, Arny. Every day and every situation is a day to reflect His glory. We just forget that sometimes.
Great thoughts. I think one thing that helps me is breaking up the daily grind. Changing jobs was really hard but it’s made everything feel like a U2 song.
Rob, making a change, even if it’s only a minor one, will change our perspective on many things. In your case, major changes.
Good words. I think we always want to have lives like the heroes of the Bible but forget that the Bible is the greatest hits. How many years did Moses wander with those people in the routine of daily life? Paul spent a year in Antioch not doing anything super special. Do we think that everyday was like Pentecost?
If God is ever present, then in every moment he is there, wanting us to notice him and join in with what he is doing.
Ben,
Paul also spent about 14 years doing nothing special before he really got going.
I think some people do think angels were showing up and miracles happening every single day.
Thanks for stopping by.
I agree with one of your other commenters… good music really picks me up enough to remember that this is the day that the Lord has made.
Also lately, I’ve been trying to slow down my pace and just notice more things…there are some amazing beautiful things that are shouting at me in the middle of my mundane if I can slow down and see. Thanks for your great post.
Music really does help things. Thanks for stopping by. Come back again.