A light bulb day!

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

You know how you can hear something a thousand times and it takes until one thousand and one until the light bulb goes on. Today is a light bulb day. I was reading a Christian e-newsletter and I read an article that tuned on the bulb for me. I have been allowing myself to believe the lie that if I am not doing something big, exciting and "important" that I am just wasting my life away. The result of this has been where some of my disappointments and depression have come from.

I can spend my day cleaning the house and feel good about it and then the family comes home and little by little all of my hard work is undone. Then there are the days that I am so sure that the words that I have been repeating day after week after month after year will finally be heard, and then I find myself having to say them once again. There are days that I will stand in the middle of a room in my house trying to decide which of the many things I have to do I will do first, and I am unable to get my feet to move because I am so tired of doing it and it all seems so pointless. My life can seem so mundane, repetitive and I feel as though my days are just wasting away; nothing I do is important. None of this is work for God; I'm not on some overseas mission trip or doing some important job for the church or reaching out to the lost in the community so this surely can't be giving God glory. I try to fill my days with "work for God" so that God will be happy with me and I end up overwhelmed and stressed out. I feel like a failure because I am not giving my whole heart to these jobs because of the stress I feel. I am not content or at peace; I have anxiety. I am surely not a true Christian because I am failing at the God-jobs. Why do I feel this way? Because some of these jobs have not been assigned to me by God. I am trying to take control of my life. I am trying to be the person I think I should be and not the one that God knows I should be.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Here is where the light bulb really came on. I have tried, in the past, to remind myself that I should be doing everything for the glory of God; do it as if I am doing it for God. That can be very difficult and frustrating to do when you think what you are doing can't be giving God glory. I guess I have never really thought about the fact that God has assigned me all of the mundane tasks. He wants me to do them and to do them to best of my ability, and when I do them to the best of my ability I AM giving God glory. He wants me to do those "important jobs", too. But only the ones that he has assigned to me. This is why time with God is so important. It is only through consistent quality time with him that I come to know and understand him better, and come to understand what he wants for my life. When I grow weary, discouraged, disappointed and depressed I just need to focus on what God has done for me in Jesus, and rest in the fact that he has me right where he wants me to be, doing exactly what he wants me to do.

God, thank you for my every part of my life. I know that I take things for granted and I show you disrespect when I don't appreciate every part of this life you have given me. I am truly blessed. You have blessed me with many people and things to care for; you have entrusted me with a lot. Forgive me for my ungrateful and grumpy attitude. With all of my love and trust in Jesus' name Amen.