Meaning in the Mundane: Motivation

Before delving into how our everyday activities can reflect something of the glorious character of God, I would like to take some time to talk about motivation.

What we do matters, but, more important, is the motivation behind our actions. This is one of the most piercing lessons Jesus taught us while here on earth.

Picture three women hanging out their washing to dry, in their gardens, at 6am in the morning. Outwardly, they are all doing the same thing. They are providing clean clothes for their families, which is good!

However, each woman has a different internal dialogue playing. One is grumbling to herself about all the work she has to do that day, and can’t think how she will get it all done – hence the early morning wash! Another is hoping her seemingly perfect neighbour will notice how early she managed to hang out the clothes – much earlier than her neighbour managed the day before! The third is smiling to herself and thinking; ‘these should be dry in good time for his football match this evening.’

One is motivated by frustration and anxiety, another by a desire to be praised, and the last by a joyful desire to equip her son as best she can. Which one reveals a heart orientated by love? 

In reality, most of us have mixed motivations, and many of us may not even stop to wonder what our motivations are. However, it is only when our actions are motivated by love, that they truly reflect God’s glory – because ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). It is the very essence of who he is, and influences all that he does, has done and will do.

Love always acts for the benefit of others, and rejoices to do so, however difficult (or dull) the task might be.

When our mundane acts are motivated by love, they are transformed from tedious to transcendent.

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The Royal Mint

In the final stage of minting a coin, a ‘blank’ is struck by a pair of dies under 60 tonnes of pressure, to get an exact imprint on the coin. Our children got to witness this first hand when they struck their own coin at the Royal Mint recently, while attending a home education workshop.

The new coins come out perfectly shiny, without scratches, fingerprints, or dents – very unlike the coins we normally see in our purses or pockets!

It got me thinking, we are much like those coins. Though we were made in the perfect image of God, that image has become tarnished and dented, through selfish actions and motivations. However, when Jesus became human, he retained the exact imprint of Gods nature (Hebrews 1:3). If we want to see what it looks like, for all of a person’s motivations to be founded in love, we must look to Jesus. 

We couldn’t take many pictures inside the Royal Mint, for security reasons, but here are some pictures we could take, along with the coins (badges) the children designed while in the workshop, and our attempt at piecing the shield together (did you know our current coins form a puzzle?).

If you are interested in attending any of the workshops at the Royal Mint, the details are below.

These are some links to helpful educational resources on their website too, in case they are of interest:

https://www.royalmint.com/mintlings/

https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/learning/