the magnificent mundane.

I am supposed to be writing a 19-page paper. It's due tomorrow morning, 9:30 sharp. I have one page, and I am too bored to continue. Seriously. I am bored by 95% of my homework. Because it's boring. When I teach, nothing will be boring. Every minute will be awesome and action-packed--even that one minute between the last note, and the end of the class, where everybody's looking at their watches, like, "Is this teach about to wrap it up? Because I could use a cola..." Yeah, even that minute will be exciting. Kids will linger in their seats, just hoping that I'll start teaching again. There will be general sadness when I end the lecture, like when Lindell cues the band during his closing statements on Wednesdays.

And then I'll wake up.

I've been thinking lately about the notion that I was deposited into this boredom purposely. God chose southern Missouri as the cradle of my faith (oh, I did just say that). He chose this place, and these people, for me. I was worrying about whether I'd go at grad school in "Party Mode 2.0," and He was chuckling. He knew. He knew I'd be changed by the Love. He knew I'd say yes. He knew I'd falter. He knew I'd see. That's radical.

And I need to honor it.

I wrote earlier this week about how I have a tendency to separate the physical from the spiritual, and thus, miss some of the joy of knowing Him. I think there's another danger in that separation, and it is missing the responsibility of the mundane.

God is great, and awesome, and I take joy in knowing Him. He brought me to southern Missouri to find Him. And I have taken that call gladly, if tumultuously. But there's a second call. I was brought here, and given opportunities to advance myself academically and professionally, and in those are calls to glorify Him.

I'd be a fool, I'm being a fool, in treating them lightly. In separating myself from them, as though patting them atop their metaphorical heads, saying "There, there, you're unimportant in comparison to my spiritual life, and that's in order." Though it's true--they are unimportant in comparison to the spiritual realities--they are not unimportant.

Obedience is complex, and I think far greater than simply checking all the boxes off. Prayer--done. Bible--done. Church--done. Refraining from all inappropriate Obama references in small group--done. He is sovereign, and He is great, and if my life is not an accident, then my circumstances are not accidents, and my obedience becomes complete in my dedication to the life in which He has placed me.

I love Him less fully when I blow off the tasks He has given me?

Paper time.