Wondering how to make New Year goals for your home that have purpose? Below are a few different ways to bring purpose to our everyday, mundane tasks. I hope it encourages you to find purpose in the goals you set within the walls of your home this year.
Disclaimer: The article below is a snippet of my Home & Living column for SPLENDEUR magazine. Enjoy this brief introduction to the article, and click the link at the bottom of the page to read the entire feature. Thanks for your support, friend!
New Year Goal: Turning Mundane Tasks into Purpose
The month of January brings about a certain theme of new beginnings. We all feel it through the lingering in the air outside, rooted in conversations with neighbors, and echoing off the walls around us. We crave that desire to pen new goals and develop healthier habits. And there is something special about curating this theme within the walls of our homes, where the root of daily habits is often first born.
While thinking through this theme for the new year, I am drawn to remember the encouragement found in 1 Corinthians 10:31 which states, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Most of us are familiar with this verse and I find myself dwelling on this principle often… “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” ALL to the glory of God. Not just part of what we do, but ALL.
Doesn’t this mean we are to glorify God in everything that we do, whether big or small? And I feel that it is in those little things, like establishing new habits around the home, that we often forsake this encouraging truth.
With this in mind, I have rounded up a few creative and practical ways that we can develop a mindfulness of glorifying God in our daily chores and the small homemaking goals we tackle this year. I pray they help us create a habit of being Christ-minded in the small, seemingly mundane parts of our lives, so as to aim at the bigger goal of becoming more like Christ every single day.
Having a Morning Routine
Establishing a morning routine is a common habit we all aim to achieve, but is an important step in curating healthy daily habits around the house. Everyone’s morning routine is going to look different, and that is okay. But having one is a great first step in establishing priorities and staying organized. Personal devotions and prayer time are two great things that can be incorporated into a morning routine that help establish a daily mindset focused on Christ. If you are a parent, this is also a great way to develop and maintain a healthy structure for your children who need a before-school routine, helping them establish good habits as well.
Daily Chores
This is a big one for many of us. Things like keeping up with laundry, keeping the house clean and tidy, emptying that dishwasher, and making the bed can seem so daunting. These are the habits that are often neglected, too, leaving us feeling flustered and overwhelmed when they begin to add up. A great way to prevent this is to establish which chores are daily and which are weekly and then stick to that schedule. It’s also a great idea to give each chore multi-purpose.
For example, laundry folding can be a great time for quiet prayer time with the Lord. Sit down at your bed, dump that pile of clothes out, and assign a specific area of prayer to each group or category of clothing that needs to be folded. This helps curtate a daily habit of being in prayer while simultaneously handling a necessary chore. A common excuse I find myself giving when my prayer life is lacking is that I simply don’t have time to be intentional with it. By interweaving this with an inevitable daily task, we find a great way to develop a lasting habit of quiet time with the Lord. You could incorporate this into any daily task such as dishes, cleaning, etc. too!
