Luke 10:40 — But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

I’ve been doing some slogging at work this week. You know — pick one foot up, put it down. Pick up the other foot, put it down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat … You know, you’ve been there …
For a couple of days it got me down. “Really? Is this how it’s going to be?” But then it clicked. This is how it is — and that’s good.
One of my favorite English hymns has these lovely words by John Keble:

New every morning is the love our wakening and uprising prove; through sleep and darkness safely brought, restored to life and power and thought.
New mercies, each returning day, hover around us while we pray; new perils past, new sins forgiven,new thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.
If on our daily course our mind be set to hallow all we find, new treasures still, of countless price,God will provide for sacrifice.
Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be, as more of heaven in each we see; some softening gleam of love and prayer shall dawn on every cross and care.
The trivial round, the common task, will furnish all we ought to ask: room to deny ourselves; a road to bring us daily nearer God.
Only, O Lord, in thy dear love, fit us for perfect rest above; and help us, this and every day, to live more nearly as we pray

That fifth verse says it — “The trivial round, the common task … A road to bring us daily nearer to God”. There is such a gift in being ordinary. There is no distraction, no other focus than God.
Sometimes the miraculous is hidden in the ordinary. For instance, there was that time when the sons of the prophets were chopping down trees and the axe head fell into the water and Elisha made it float. Sometimes, too, the ordinary cloaks the extraordinary — there’s David — just an ordinary shepherd boy, taking food to his brothers, who turned into the great king (and sweet singer) of Israel. And there were the two men entertained by Lot who turned out to be angels.
I’m sure that, from time to time, most men get tired of the daily trudge … to our shame. But I suspect that more women are tempted to frustration with the trivial round. To them, though, William Barclay says:

It is the simple fact that there is no greater task, responsibility and privilege in this world than to make a home. It may well be that, when women are involved in all the exhausting duties which children and a home bring with them, they may say: ‘If only I could be done with all this, so that I could live a truly religious life.’ There is in fact nowhere where a truly religious life can better be lived than within the home.

So celebrate being ordinary with me! You know — pick one foot up, put it down. Pick up the other foot, put it down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Thank God!