"Daily" devotion?


"Lord of all pots and pans and things....
Make me a saint by getting meals
And washing up the plates!"

Brother Lawrence (The Practice of the Presence of God)


I've learned that it's not too hard to feel "devotional" when you're going to a third world country on a mission trip, leading a large children's ministry or feeding the homeless on Christmas day. But what about when the farthest you travel in a day is to the neighborhood park to run your rugrats children so they'll drop into bed without a fight and the extent of feeding anyone is a days menu of Fruit Loops, PB&J and mac 'n' cheese (maybe with some frozen peas thrown in for "color")? Where's the devotion in that?

How do we not only practice His presence for ourselves, but share it with the people in our world neighborhood house?

I’ve wrestled with this idea since shortly after I got married and discovered that no, Hubby really doesn’t cook. I love to make fancy desserts and fun birthday cakes, but the everyday breakfast/lunch/dinner thing just doesn’t get me excited. (And in the interest of full disclosure, I still don’t actually cook three meals a day!) It’s been more than 10 years (and two children) and I’m still working on seeing the dailiness of diapers, dinners and dusting as devotion.

I recently visited a church out of town and the pastor mentioned that the word for “worship” in Hebrew is the same as the word “work.” I'm surprised I had never heard that before. Even so though, I think I've always had a sense of that as I try to make the most mundane activities into something meaningful.

Devotion/worship/work. Knowing that the language that God originally chose to communicate his thoughts to the world used the same word for these concepts really gives me a whole new outlook on Refreshmoments and how I’m trying to live. While I’m sharing the Refreshmoments concept with whomever is interested, I really do it first for myself. I don’t write it because I’ve mastered the idea that God is close in the most ordinary moments and that I worship Him by being faithful in the small things. I write because I need the reminder to practice those very things in my own life. And, I could use a little help.

What about you? Does it make a difference to you to know that God used the same word for Work and for Worship? How do those ideas come together in your life? In what way do you see the need for it to come together more? Talk about it!

1 comment:

Michelle said...

I love the quote you started with. I love to cook, but I often compare cooking for my kids with the idea of Bach composing a cantata for the school of the deaf.

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