What do peanut butter & jelly sandwiches have to do with worship?

This past Tuesday, we finished another amazing study in Community Bible Study... Our last lesson was on Colossians 3:18 - 4 and the verse that just keeps following me around is from Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men..."

Whatever you do...laundry...carpool...grocery shopping...cooking...cleaning bathrooms and changing sheets...work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord... Ok, I have a hard time wrapping my brain (and my heart) around that one... Laundry for the Lord?

But that's what God's Word says... Even in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whether you eat or drink, WHATEVER you do, do it ALL for the glory of God." (Emphasis mine)

Every single task can be for the glory of God...that means that anything we do, if our heart is in the right place, can have significance in the kingdom of God...can bring Him glory! WOW!!!

As the teacher for the class, I think that the application of God's Word is just as crucial as the context and the meaning of the verses, so whenever I teach application like this, I'm constantly challenged to be sure that my words and my actions line up...

As we ended the year, I challenged the ladies in the class to start seeing every task as an opportunity to worship rather than grumbling and complaining...

So yesterday morning, as I dragged myself out of bed at 5:45 a.m. and went downstairs to make my 529th peanut butter and jelly sandwich of the year, I fell into my usual internal grumbling... I really hate making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...it's messy and it takes forever, I would much rather slap some sandwich meat on 2 slices of bread and be done with it...

But as my heart hit the usual replay button of all the reasons I hate making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...the Holy Spirit hit pause and challenged me with what I had just taught the day before (I so hate it when that happens...LOL!!)...

"Pssst...Sharla...how can you turn making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches into an act of worship?" You have got to be kidding...peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as an act of worship?

"But you just said yesterday that NOTHING...no task...in the kingdom of God is insignificant when you work as unto the Lord...for His glory..." (P.S...these are not audible voices, just thoughts that seem to get whispered into my heart)...

So I started thinking, how can I look at this as an act of worship?

All last year, I didn't make my kid's lunches... They were 10, 13 & 14, I figured they could handle it, so I admit, that more than once I lingered in my warm cozy bed a little longer than I should have, knowing that they could handle getting ready for school (yeah I know, no mom of the year awards for that one, but cut me a little slack, I had ACL reconstruction and had some nerve damage and went almost 4 months without a full night's sleep)...

So as the school year started this year, I knew that all of that absolutely had to change, no more alarm clocks for the girls, I needed to wake them up to help attachment with Abby and of course a 6 year old can't make her own lunch...but then, what kind of mom would I be if I made Abby's lunch but not the other's? (Rotten!!)

So began the morning ritual of grumbling and complaining and making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...

So yesterday morning, I decided to remember the reason I was making these sandwiches...God brought precious Abby into our lives, not to mention our 3 other amazing children that He's blessed us with... Hmmm... I'm so blessed to be making so many of those PB & J's...

And what about the fact that this is an act of service to my children... No greater love has a man that he lay down his life for his friends... Offer your bodies as living sacrifices... Yep...even PB&J, with the right heart attitude, counts as laying down your life... your wants, your likes, your time and energy...

All of a sudden I had a new track I could choose to play in the morning...

So this morning, as I got up to make PB & J, as the first notes of Achy, Breaky, Grumbly, Gripey Heart started sounding, I thought, "Wait a minute...this is not the song I want to hear." And I changed the song of my heart to worship!

What song is your heart playing?