Wipe on, wipe off. If you’ve ever seen the karate kid, you’ll be familiar with this phrase. Daniel is eager to learn to fight, and Mr. Miyagi has finally agreed to teach him. At their first lesson, Mr. Miyagi hands him a rag and some cleaning spray, and puts him to work saying “Wipe on, wipe off,”. Wipe on, wipe off, marking the tedious motion of the work.

I have found myself repeating this phrase often this last year, which has been a longer season than I’d like of transition and uncertainty.

I am folding a shirt at J. Crew. Wipe on, wipe off.

I am struggling with a sermon. Wipe on, wipe off.

I am learning about humility, and in those moments I found myself saying: Wipe on, wipe off. There is purpose in this.

We all experience those moments that seem mundane, pointless. And yet in every experience is the opportunity to see God and to allow our lives to point towards God.

In new seasons: Wipe on, wipe off.

In the struggle with identity: Wipe on, wipe off.

In joy and grief: Wipe on, wipe off.

In the constant unknowns of things outside of our control: Wipe on, wipe off.

In seemingly unexplainable or unanticipated events: Wipe on, wipe off.

In the quotidian mysteries* of life, quotidian meaning occurring every day; belonging to every day; common place, ordinary: Wipe on, wipe off.

God is in this, we say: Wipe on, wipe off.

God is here, and there is value in this moment: Wipe on, wipe off.

In the Karate Kid, there is a moment in the film where Daniel has reached his breaking point. He is sick and tired of washing windows. What does this have to do with fighting? With defending himself? But soon enough he discovers that the very motion that was once so annoyingly repetitive and pointless to him has actually trained his body with the reflex needed for basic self defense.

So it is with spiritual formation and identifying God in the everyday. 
This is what spiritual formation opens our eyes to. It opens our eyes wide to the presence of God in our lives, and it draws us into his presence in a way that aligns our desires with his desire to love and serve the world.

So regarding your inward spiritual formation journey: Wipe on, wipe off. God is in this. God is here. God is with us, and there is value in even this small moment.

*The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and “Women’s Work” is an essay by Kathleen Norris

Aurelia Pratt is the Spiritual Formations Pastor and one of the Teaching Pastors at Grace Baptist Church.