August 14, 2009

• Living Worship

   

  Not sure how to title this post. This was the best thing I could come up with, in a short nutshell.

  This is something I do not feel qualified to write about, but it’s been so huge to me the past month and a half, and I felt that I should share it. This is something I’ve been thinking about as I go throughout my days, and it has brought a new meaning to my life and my world. At the same time, I feel that I have so much growth to do in this area, and many times throughout the day I cry out to God to “Help me! I’m failing again!”

  This “something” is a newer concept to me that I sum up as “Living Worship.”

  I’ve always struggled to know what “worship” really is. Is it that time inbetween Sunday School and the main service called “worship”? Is it personal quiet time and Bible reading? Is it gazing at nature and being in awe of God’s creation?

  Yes, to all the above. But I’m seeing that it’s so much more as well.

  I was introduced to this concept by two different sources at about the same time. One, a sermon I heard while we were in PA in June. And two, a little book my mom gave me to read entitled The Invisible Woman.

  It’s based on the verse in Romans 12:1, where Paul says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

  I’ve heard that verse a hundred times, and it just never really “clicked” with me until recently.

  It’s the idea of our bodies worshipping God. Not just our emotions [although God wants that too]. Not just our minds [although God wants our intelligence].

  In the book I mentioned, it was said that at the time the grand European cathedrals were built, many of the builders and workers were townspeople. But there were monks who also helping to build. These monks did it not just as physical labor itself, but they viewed manual labor as a form of prayer.

  Wow. I had to reread that several times in the book. What an amazing concept!

  To quote the book, “In other words, they decided it might actually be holy to get their hands dirty for God. They prayed with their tools and skills…

  “One particularly moving story told of a prominent man who went to visit a cathedral that was being built. He stopped to watch one of the workers, perhaps a monk. He saw the worker carving a tiny bird into the inside of a beam that would eventually be covered over by the stone roof. The man asked the worker why he was spending so much time and giving so much attention to something that no one would ever see. The builder never looked up. He never stopped carving as he replied, “Because God sees.”

  “…Years later, Martin Luther urged ordinary people – not just the clergy – to find the same perspective. He told the world that it was not the nature of the work that made it holy. Milking a cow was no less holy than giving an offering. Luther believed that a housewife had as great a calling as a high priest, and that both should perform his or her work as though God alone were watching. Holiness comes from God and from the heart of the person doing the work, not from the work itself…” [end of quote]

  In another book by Sheila Walsh, A Love So Big, she says, “The significant key to living a life that is not consumed by fear is to see all of life as worship. C.S. Lewis wrote, “We take steps with God and at every step offer our lives as worship. In the process of worshipping God He communicates His Spirit to us. ” If we viewed every moment as an act of worshipping God, how would it change the landscape of our minds and souls?” [end of quote]

  My days are filled with manual labor, physically caring for my family in so many different ways… Gone are the days when I could spend hours reading the Word, praying, and doing “spiritual things.” I’ve sometimes felt guilty that I am not able to do that anymore. But this concept is so FREEING to me, because I now see that what I’m doing now, as a wife and mother, is no less spiritual! For all day long, I am worshipping God with my body as I serve my family, and my life is a prayer as I train and love on our children, cook meals for my family, try to keep a clean house and a sense of order, try to be an attractive and loving wife to my husband… What a freeing truth!

  There is still that important time of quietness with God, alone. Just Him and me. I feel like I need that more than ever since I have two children. But I’m seeing more than ever before that that is just the beginning of my day with Him!

  I paraphrased the beginning of Romans 12:1 and put it by my kitchen sink: “Dedicate your bodies, your physical and manual labor, as a living sacrifice – as worship to God!”

  I think of this so much throughout my day…

  … as I get up in the morning, give breakfast to my children, start a load of laundry, tidy up the house – this is worship to God!

  … as I use the gifts He’s given me to  bless my family – this is worship to God!

  … when I feel frustrated and angry with my daughter, and cry out to God to help ME so I can help her attitudes – this is worship to God!

  … when I make meals for my family – this is worship to God!

  … when I willingly give gifts to others and find pleasure in seeing them delighted – this is worship to God!

  … when I pull weeds, mow the yard, etc. etc. etc…….

  There are SO MANY more things I could list, but YOU fill them in in your mind! What have you found to be worship in your daily lives?

   I’ve love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this! I hope this will encourage someone like it has encouraged me! And that this truth will change your daily lives from hum-drum to being filled with purpose and meaning!

  Be blessed today – as you worship God with your lives, wherever God has placed you this day!

  -clarita

   

  • 6:57 am
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