Romans 12:1-2
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
One of my dearest friends (who is now in Heaven) used to say, “I never did anything with my life.” This was so far from the truth that it was almost laughable. What Becky meant was that she never finished college – never got the nursing degree she had hoped to obtain… never “spread her wings” and lived anywhere but her home town. What she didn’t always recognize was how successful she was as a wife, mother, servant in her church and community, office manager in her dad’s construction business, and friend to more than she could count. Becky could never fathom that her life would leave such a mark on others that we still speak of her with admiration and respect to this day.
The point is that God doesn’t call everyone to become a celebrity or live in the limelight. And honestly, He uses the ordinary, everyday experiences of our lives as much or more than those we consider grand and impressive – if we are living for Him. In the coming weeks, many will graduate from high school or college, marry, move, or begin new jobs and new adventures. If you are one of them, remember that whatever you do is important to God… when you offer it to Him.
Whether you are spending the summer as an intern, babysitting, or filling boats with gas at a marina, you can serve God. If you are starting graduate school or an entry-level job, you can offer your work to Him and conduct yourself in a way that glorifies His name. If you are a stay-at-home mom or a retired grandpa who spends his days building bluebird houses or piddling in the garden, you can give these activities to God, and He will bless them.
My point is that God can use anything and everyone. When you do the laundry clean your house, wash the car or mow the lawn, you are caring for your family and being a good steward of God’s blessings… and He will bless you for doing so. When you nurture children, smile at the clerk at Wal-Mart, or rescue stray animals, God can be glorified. You don’t have to earn a Ph.D. or live in a mega-mansion for God to use you… although He can! You don’t have to be a certain age, have a specific amount of money, be a world-class athlete, or look like a model…you are special to God just as you are!
You may have heard the phrase, “Bloom where you are planted.” God wants us to bloom for Him… wherever He plants us. Recognize that everything you do and say is an opportunity to glorify His name. Don’t try to become something you are not – or that God did not design for you. Don’t let the world dictate how you think, speak or act. Ask GOD who you should be… and live comfortably and simply in His will… regardless of your age or where you find yourself these days,
If you are not completely certain you are living a mature, Christ-centered life, ask God to help you shift your focus and turn your attention back to Him. Whatever your age or station in life, you can focus on God and glorify Him in all you do. Are you blooming where you’ve been planted?
©2012 Debbie Robus
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