After the whirlwind of a year that 2020 brought us, perhaps this January we feel a stronger need to buckle down and see positive results—in anything. We might feel tempted to master new disciplines whether in our job, health, or spirituality. Yet no matter how much we try to make room for fruitful tasks this January, we will soon find ourselves entrenched in the mundane.

We’ll still send email after email, fold another round of laundry, wipe the same table with a washcloth, and fill out another piece of paperwork. This kind of work is the kind that author Cal Newport coined as “shallow work.” He defines it as “non-cognitively demanding” and work that tends not to add obvious value. Though Newport doesn’t make moral arguments in his book Deep Work, it doesn’t mean we aren’t already tempted to assign labels like good and bad to different levels of work.

We don’t need any help feeling poorly about monotony.

So how do we approach a new year, knowing that despite our best attempts, a good part of our days will consistently feel pointless?

Re-Evaluate Our Currency

Perhaps the first place to begin is to re-evaluate our currency. What equals value? Often, we look towards money, job status, or perhaps an end product for proof. In the shift to an online culture, currency has further morphed into something more fragile such as “likes” and “shares.” These trinkets of affirmation are a quick shot of dopamine for our minds as we relish the congratulations and feel like we did, in fact, accomplish something.

Yet these are affirmations we won’t usually get in our everyday “shallow work.” Who comes to tell us we did a great job loading the dishwasher for the second time today or filling out that form? Sometimes whether in our job or home life, the value of our work remains veiled. There’s a reason we flock to social media and find jokes and affirmations for our work “adulting.” We desire encouragement that the monotony that makes up the majority of our lives actually matters.

Though it’s tempting to buy into the currency of the world, God’s currency for the value of our work is so much different. The currency of the Christian is not necessarily something we can hear, see, or touch—but it’s ultimately the unseeable glory of the Lord. It is for his glory that we eat, drink, or do anything (Col. 3:23). This includes deep work that produces huge results right next to the shallow work that will be scrapped and thrown in the trash. For the Christian, all things are for him, through him, and to him for his glory (Rom. 11:36). Nothing is wasted.

In her book, Teaching From Rest, Sarah Mackenzie tells the story of an artist who painstakingly worked on an ornate wooden bird that was placed in a section of a cathedral that would eventually be covered up. When asked why he worked so hard on something never to be seen, he simply answered, “God sees it.”

This new year you will be pressed to do work which will remain hidden. You will pour hours into what seems like mundane tasks, and may see no visible value. Yet God will bring every deed, including all the unseen good ones, into light one day (Ecc. 12:14).

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