Do Everything

Well let me remind you, it all matters just as long
As you do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you, 
Cause he made you, 
To do
Every little thing that you do 
To bring a smile to His face
Tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every little thing you do

Just over 7 months ago on my first day in Nicaragua, these lyrics kept repeating themselves in my brain. It was a hot day and I was spending it picking up trash at the farm of the missionary we were working with...not exactly how I'd pictured my first mission trip. Throughout that week though, God used that to change my heart. That day in particular, I realized that even though it wasn't fun, those tasks our team helped with on our first day helped to free up Marcus' time so he could be out ministering to and loving the people of Nicaragua. 

When I put it in perspective and realized that I was doing what I was doing for God, picking up trash didn't seem so bad...I wasn't just helping out Marcus, I was cleaning up a farm that belongs to God.

When it was my turn to do a devotion for the group that week, I talked about this. I talked about how it's easier to have this "do everything for God" mentality when you're in a foreign country specifically to do kingdom work. But what about when we got back home? Would I find a way to make my jobs show glory to God? How do I make waiting tables and taking care of kids something more, something that honors God?

This is something that I've been thinking about for a long while now and maybe I still don't have it right, but I'm trying each and every day. Maybe it means not getting angry with a table for leaving me a bad tip, maybe it's going out of the way to help a co-worker, maybe it's laying down my pride and apologizing to a co-worker for something I said when I was stressed out, maybe it's loving on a foster kid at the daycare even if they drive me crazy. I'm sure I could make this list go on and on if I really thought about it. While there are so many ways to show God the glory in our every day lives, I think it's important that our self centered human nature doesn't always want to do that and sometimes it's hard.

In those times, it's important to remember why we want God's light to shine through us...we want everyone to know that love and joy and hope...it's not about us. For me, it usually takes tripping up and doing something that might not bring glory to God before I take a step back and try again. For example, last night a work everything was falling to pieces and I was stressed out because things weren't perfect and I couldn't fix all of them...I began to get grumpy with my tables and my co-workers and I wasn't very loving. So in the midst of all the craziness I said a prayer, "God, I can't do this on my own, I need your help to be patient and kind and understanding. I don't want to be this way, I want Your light to shine through me." And it all turned around right there, God calmed me and helped me through the rest of my night.

So, I want to challenge you today, look to an area of your life where you might not think about it being something you do for God...and make it something you do for God. Anything can be kingdom work if we have willing workers.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31)