Tuesday, September 4, 2012

It Matters

Ever feel like you don't know why you're doing the things you do each day?  Do you wonder if there's any meaning at all in the things you do?  What's the purpose?  What's my purpose?  Ugh.  Don't we all struggle with those thoughts?  I know I do.

Yesterday, my husband shared some lyrics of a song with me that he had heard on the radio recently.  I did some searching on the internet and found the song.  It's called "Do Everything" by Steven Curtis Chapman.   The song is written to apply to a variety of people, but here are the lyrics that apply to me and probably to you other moms as well:

You're picking up toys on the living room floor for the fifteenth time today
Matching up socks
Sweeping up lost cheerios that got away

You put a baby on your hip
Color on your lips and head out the door

While I may not know you,
I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes, does it matter at all?

Well let me remind you, it all matters just as long
As you do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you,
Cause he made you,
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
Tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every little thing you do
 
       Another part of the song says:
 
Little stuff
Big stuff
In between stuff
God sees it all the same
 
 
Don't you love that?!  I think Steven Curtis Chapman wrote that just for me!  I find it to be such a comforting reminder that what I do really does matter, even in a world where everything I do is usually undone or is never really finished.  What I do is important.  It's not done in vain.  And what I do is noticed.  Maybe not always by the people around me.  Maybe not always by the people I especially want to notice.  But that's not really the point, is it? 
 
This is where it gets challenging for me.  We're not supposed to do things for others to notice or for the sake of being appreciated.  We're supposed to do everything to glorify God, just like the song says.  That's our purpsose, plain and simple.  Glorify God.  1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "...whatever you do, do it all for the Glory of God." 
 
Now I don't know about you, but after dinner when my husband and the kids are playing in the living room and ask me when I'm going to come join them, I find myself saying something like, "Well I have to clean everything up - It won't get done unless I do it."  And when I'm dragging my feet, up doing housework after everyone else is sleeping comfortably in their beds, my attitude is not one that glorifies God.  In fact, glorifying God is probably the last thing on my mind.  I tend to feel bitter, especially towards my husband.  I complain to myself and can't wait until my kids are old enough to help out.  Those are my honest feelings, but they're not right. Not right at all.
 
So I pray that God will change my attitude.  That he will give me a heart to "serve [my family] humbly in love" (Galatians 5:13).  That I will understand my responsibility to keep this attitude around my husband and children, so they might see and know how much I love them and love God, and that I might set an example for them to glorify God in all that they do.  Because it really does matter!



2 comments:

  1. Thank you! I've known all this, but I needed this reminder today. Rita Beth

    ReplyDelete