Counting Up

So many days start with lists of things to do, lists both physical and mental. But You reminded me today that, while I should busy myself and work during the day, my primary goal must remain finding You in all of it.

Frankly, piles of laundry do not inspire me toward heaven. Neither do the recyclables that need to be taken to the dump nor the floor that needs to be scrubbed. I can do them as work necessary in a fallen world and use them to demonstrate faithfulness, but they take a secondary place, much like Martha's kitchen duties: worthy because someone has to do them, but not the stuff of glory.

My days also encompass other activities, however. Some I can choose. The house needs to be cleaned, the dishes done, the garbage taken out, and the lawn mowed, but I do have choices regarding the rest. I do not need to grow all my own vegetables. I do not need to cook everything from scratch. I do not even need to write this. The life You have chosen for me makes all these optional. So, after the laundry is washed, dried, and folded, the refrigerator cleaned out, and the litter boxes emptied, with which other activities do I fill my day?

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

You want me to choose whatever else I do wisely, not frivolously. You want me to count each one. You want me to raise my hand and my heart simultaneously and find You in my choices. So, what does that look like? Well, I may not have to grow all my own vegetables, but I find You when I see flowers burst open and sweeten a summer afternoon or when I pick a tomato from a branch heavy with fruit. I may not have to prepare all my meals from scratch, but I remember You when I feel a silky bread dough move under my hands while I knead it or smell deep garlic and cream swirl into a satin sauce. I may not need to run a day care center, but I recall Your love when I hold a child. I may not have to make my living as a writer, but I see Your truth rise out of the lush perfection in rightly placed words. So, I can choose to plant a flower or cook or babysit or write and use the time You have given to remember You.

In the end, you require some measure of drudgery and take pleasure that I am willing to do the mundane in your name, but then you make time for finding Your glory as well. I can use my spare time to go to Disneyworld or read drivel and You will not condemn me for it, but You deliver much more, a taste of You and Your glory, if I choose to number my days.