Faithfulness in the Ordinary
Faithfulness is consecration in overalls. It is the steady acceptance and performance of the common duty and immediate task without any reference to personal preferences because it is there to be done and so is a manifestation of the Will of God.
It is Elizabeth Leseur settling down each day to do the household accounts quite perfectly (when she would much rather have been in church) and saying, “The duties of my station come before, everything else.”
It is Brother Lawrence taking his turn in the kitchen, and Saint Francis de Sales taking the burden of a difficult diocese and saying, “I have now little time for prayer but I do what is the same.”
The fruits of the Spirit get less and less showy as we go on. Faithfulness means continuing quietly with the job we have been given, in the situation where we have been placed; not yielding to the restless desire for change. It means tending the lamp quietly for God without wondering how much longer it has got to go on.
—Evelyn Underhill,
The Fruits of the Spirit
In the quiet routines of treatment—daily check-ins, hard conversations, simple chores—it can be easy to wonder if any of it really matters. But Evelyn Underhill reminds us that faithfulness is consecration in overalls—a sacred commitment to do what is in front of us, even when it feels small or unseen. True spiritual maturity often looks less like grand gestures and more like steady obedience: showing up, staying present, doing the next right thing without needing recognition. Whether you’re folding laundry, filling out paperwork, or listening to someone in pain, your faithfulness in this moment is a holy act. It is tending the lamp for God—not dramatically, but quietly and with love. And in that, He is deeply honored. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics