On Mission at Home: Randi Peck

By Randi Peck

Call me an old lady, but there’s something about quilting that I absolutely love.  Now, I don’t actually know how to quilt- perhaps, one day, when my hands aren’t full of sippy cups and Oxyclean, I will have the chance to learn.  But just the idea of these homemade blankets captures my attention… Teeny, little stitches, embroidered onto dozens of squares, uniting to form one picture- one story- one functional masterpiece.  It’s beautiful.  

When I think of what it truly looks like to be on mission, at home, I think of these quilts.  I think of the long days, and the short years.  I think of each tiny investment, as you mop the worn floor that will surely need cleaned again tomorrow.  As you bathe your baby, soaking in each coo.  As you serve a warm meal, with a kind and weary smile.  Stitch by stitch… you are investing into a greater story.  

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like a whole lot, does it?  Even a child, after all, can easily learn the running stitch.  Up and down, up and down…

But day after day, in faithfulness and endurance, those tiny sutures add up to form the hearts in your home.  Moment by moment, your home will be built into a place of rest and a foundation of truth.

As Ann Voskamp says: “Why in the world disdain the small?  It’s always the smallest strokes that add up to the greatest masterpieces.”

Mona Lisa was birthed through hundreds of thousands of intricate strokes…  Mount Rushmore was constructed after fourteen years of chip, chip, chippin’ away… These, and countless other works of art, became a reality because their creators poured themselves into each moment, with a grand picture in mind.  

And your home, your marriage, your family… it too will become something magnificent only through longsuffering and seemingly insignificant acts of compassion completed for Christ.  

There is nothing earth-shattering about returning your husband’s kiss, even though the laundry desperately needs switched over.  And you certainly won’t make history by patiently explaining long division to your child, after a long day.   

But keep stitching!

Keep hearing your child, even though sometimes it feels the words never stop flowing and you would give anything for a moment of silence.  Hear their thoughts, look them in the eye, and care about who God made them to be…

Keep seeing your spouse in light of Christ’s forgiveness, in view of God’s powerful hand to use them.  Observe what it is that brings them joy, and where it is they need encouragement…

Keep showing your family what it is to be consumed with the love of Jesus.  Show them when you rise up early to open your Bible, or when you apologize in humility.  Show them when you graciously swing chicken noodle soup by a sick friend’s home, even though your day was already full…

Keep teaching them, that through struggle and failure, there is One who uses it all for His glory.  View every day as an opportunity to speak gospel truth about man’s sin, God’s redemption, and life’s purpose.

Stroke by stroke, stitch by stitch… by the grace of God, you are creating something beautiful.