A little over a year later we’re still diligently working away on our album. Man did we think we’d be done by now. However the Lord has been teaching us over and over about his faithfulness and his perfect timing. Teaching us to lean in and trust in his ways, giving us faith to persevere.
Its been a little like that project that you think is just gonna last a morning but it takes 5 more trips to the hardware store than you think and it took relearning or reteaching yourself something you thought you knew which inevitably caused you to re-do some things that you thought would work.
Have you ever been there?
Thinking it was almost done…working hard…waiting…re-doing…
Man is that an exhausting place to be.
I (Allie) have been mulling over the idea of mundane tasks as of late. My job as a wife, mother and sometimes songwriter doesn’t always feel as glamorous as I had hoped it would be. So much is mundane, repetitive, dull, frankly even frustrating at times. The romantic in me imagined when we would finally have that day to record our album of course the stars would align and it would be beautiful and easy and of course amazing!
And don’t get me wrong here…it had been! (Amazing I mean!) The Lord was so obvious when he gave us a resounding “YES go for it” then he helped the funds to come in and provided a time and a space for it all to happen.
But truthfully a lot of it has been just like the rest of my life. Mundane, boring, tedious. The process of mixing our album for example is not unlike the process of feeding a toddler. Mom thinks you might like this grape snack today, but for some reason paired up with that apple sauce it is way more appealing for you to mix it up like soup and toss it on the floor. Enter unexpected second trial snack here: graham crackers….do we even have that in the pantry?
For example: we think we really liked that bass part and it totally worked in the studio and now we realize hmm paired up with that low organ theres got to be some give and take and some tossing of parts and lining up some sections to make it all come together, ie 4 hours later shew, well now what? Is there something else in the pantry cuz now its just not working….
I share this example to share our process. Simply to say out loud and claim for the world that things are never as glamorous as you want them to be. And things are rarely as easy as you’d hoped. And isn’t that just the way the Lord often chooses to teach us something.
The Israelites wondered for 40 years basically in circles around the dessert. Not unlike a mother leading ungrateful toddlers Moses lead those people around the “play ground sandbox” in circles! And often we mull through life in a similar way. Leading the broken trying to straighten the crooked and attempting to beautify the mess. And that is GOSPEL redemptive work. All of it is! Especially the mundane boring aspects. Especially the re-dos, the circling. Especially the hard bits when you think: We can’t go on this way!
The Lord takes our hands leads us to sill waters resorts our souls and says I will have my way in you! I will accomplish great things admits what you claim a mess I will call beautiful!
I am 39 weeks pregnant with our third and waiting on what seems like SO much. But this mundane waiting serves a purpose in my life. Time and space to rest, think, consider and pray for all that is ahead. And maybe thats all I can do today. But OH gracious God I know you provide, and I know my waiting for just this one moment in this day is enough. To HIM be the glory who is able to do all things and to keep my feet from stumbling. AMEN.
