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Whatever You Do
I’m not a crafty person. I’m not a Pinterest pinner, a craft project blogger, or an Etsy addict. Oh, I admire the creativity of others (okay, perhaps ENVY their artsyness), but I’ve accepted my limits and stopped trying to feel comfortable in the aisles of Michael’s and Joann Fabrics.
Yet the day before Valentine’s day I sat at my table with glitter, craft foam, stamps, stencils, markers, colored paper and scissors to complete one item on my day’s to-do list: Make personal Valentine’s for my three girls.
Years ago, a man from our church told me that you can do many great things for daughters, but there are only two necessary things: Let them know they are beautiful and let them know they are loved.
I’ve thought about this often. Perhaps he is right.
If I remove these two primary insecurities, they will be free and brave enough to pursue their talents, develop their minds, take on difficult projects and reach out to people.
At least for now, that thought had inspired me to turn my limited crafting skill into the most basic of all art projects: a handmade card. It’s not because I thought the final outcome would be displayable or frameable. I could buy a better-looking card for a few dollars off the Wal-Mart rack.
It’s because I know that my daughters feel special when I make things for them and I wanted them to know they are loved.
As I sat making a mess out of glue and paper, I think about a biography I h
ad been reading of E.B.White, the American essayist and author of Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web and The Trumpet of the Swan.
In the summer following college, White grabbed a friend and a car and drove completely across the United States—before highways existed to make this kind of national crisscrossing an all-American past-time. They stopped in small towns and performed odd jobs or sold bits of White’s writing to local newspapers so they could buy food and gas. They slept outside or in the car or wherever they could. Arriving on the West Coast, White then hopped on a ship bound for Alaska.
Elbow deep in glitter, I marveled that a human being would take off across the country without a plan, without connections, without a return date.
Crazy man, that E.B. White!
We’re so often people looking for purpose in life. We want a grand vision, a neon sign. We want impact. We want to know the one reason we exist on this earth.
For E.B. White, this meant trekking without a plan and discovering himself while discovering America. Even so, I’m not jealous of him for all of his wanderings and adventures.
For as much as we overlook the beauties of the everyday, I wonder if they are truly the key to God’s greatest plan for us.
Surely God receives big glory from big things. The massive ministry, the arena packed full, the bestseller, the major miracle, the international program, the made-into-a-movie-story bring Him grand-scale recognition.
Yet I believe a daily life well-lived brings Him glory, too. My marriage strong and lasting. My daughters beautiful and loved, learning their Awana verses and showing kindness. My small-town impact to the cashier at Wal-Mart. My weekly shelving of books in the school library. My prayer time each week for the school and its staff.
This means that instead of always ignoring today for the sake of the grand design of tomorrow, we give God glory in our jobs and our homes and relationships and churches. We do what He has called us to do here, now, in this moment. We do it faithfully. We work at it with all our heart.
God had a great plan for Joseph’s life, yet it was worked out in days, months and years of serving as a slave in Potiphar’s house and then, as a prisoner himself, overseeing others locked in Egyptian jail cells.
Joseph’s ministry all that time involved washing dishes, working fields, carrying messages, figuring accounts, and managing property. It was his integrity and faithful hard work in the everyday tasks that allowed God to use him more and more.
In Genesis 39, we are told “The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. . . . His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had” (Genesis 39:2-4).
Had Joseph balked at the menial tasks of slavery or begrudgingly gave second-best efforts as he served in Potiphar’s house, he might have remained a slave or a prisoner his entire life. He would never have become second-in-command to Pharaoh, overseeing Egypt and ultimately saving the nation from devastating famine.
Egypt may not have survived as a nation without Joseph.
Joseph’s father, Jacob, and his ten brothers and their families—the entire nation of Israel—may also have starved as the famine reached their land.
At least two nations depended on Joseph’s daily faithfulness to the tasks at hand.
Paul wrote:
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).
and
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”
(1 Corinthians 10:31)
This is how we bring glory to God. It’s in the making of a Valentine’s card and the packing of a lunch. It’s in the shuffling of the wet laundry from washer to dryer. It’s in the standing at the stove to prepare a meal.
It’s you at your desk. It’s you in the classroom. It’s you teaching Sunday School. It’s you on your knees. This is what brings Him glory.
To read more devotional thoughts from Heather King, check out her blog here: http://heathercking.wordpress.com/
Copyright © 2008-2015 Heather King
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