Not So Short But Sweet (Real Sweet)

So, this past Friday and Saturday, the hubs and I worked at our new house from what we in the South call "from can to can't" (only it sounds more like 'cain to cain't' when we say it). While hubs spent most of the day on the tractor (yes, we have a tractor - it is TN, what did you expect?), yours truly spent my time loading 2x4's, blocks (cinder, not lego), rocks (think Gibraltar), raking gravel and spreading mulch. Does anything sound amiss to you? Yeah, he got the sweet end of the deal. I have to say that my lower back protests every time I stand up or sit down and is in definite need of a trip to the chiropractor. Needless to say, I am walking with a little hitch in my 'git along'. A girl shouldn't lift 80 lb bags of mulch (18 bags to be exact) all by herself even if she IS trying to make hay while the sun shines. We did make a lot of progress even though I might be crippled for life. Sometimes ya gotta take it in the chin (back) for the greater good of the family (IE. we did all this stuff to keep from having to pay someone else to do it - we're cheap like that, but hard workers nonetheless).

The weather in East TN this weekend has been absolutely beautiful (the football? not so pretty, but that is another post entirely). Even with all the hard, back-breaking work we did, we were not miserably hot, because there was a constant breeze and the Lord saw fit to clear away the humidity. Saturday evening, while I was waiting on hubs to put his tractor away and lock the house up, I sat in the garage and prayed over the house. Probably not the prayers you would expect, but I prayed for everything concerning that house. One thing I said during the prayer was "God, let everything we do in this house or associated with this house bring you glory". When I said that, it was as if God turned on a light for me. It was as if He highlighted those words for me and I kept saying "Bring You Glory" over and over again and each time I said it, I had a new understanding of what they meant. I have asked many, many times for my actions or words to bring Him glory, but this time He really made it clear to me that bringing Him glory is my one true calling.

As I prayed there in that garage, an old idea became a new realization. When I do everything to bring Him glory, the pressure is lifted from me. If I am living, breathing, acting, doing, speaking, and loving for God's glory, then every heavy load I carry is placed on His shoulders (and they are the only shoulders that can bear up under all the weight). When I live for His glory, the focus is placed on Him -- I have done my part and the rest is up to Him. My goal in everything I do should be to place Him in the spotlight. Oh, I may fail by the world's standards, but my purpose in Him is to bring Him glory. Even in the small, everyday, mundane things of life, my calling is to bring Him glory....it's the purest purpose of every Christ-follower.....His glory.

Some of you are reading this and thinking, is she just figuring this out? Maybe. It is something that I have known in my head for years, but I think I might have really gotten it this time...sitting in an unfinished garage of all places. It is one thing to know something in your head, and a completely different thing to know it in your heart. Some things are learned with our human understanding and some things are simply God-taught. This is a God-teaching moment for me.

The phrase "for His glory" keeps running through my mind and I keep saying it and praying it over and over. Have I failed at bringing Him glory before? Yes. Will I fail at it in the future? Yes, but at least now I have a firm grasp on the concept and hopefully, I have reminded you today of what you already knew.....your purpose in everything you do or say is to bring Him glory. Take a few minutes and say to the Lord, "For Your glory" over and over and see if it impacts your day today......I bet it will ;-).



1 Chronicles 16:29
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.