Summer Challenge For Our Family...

Our family has decided to take on a summer challenge... Each week, we are going to memorize a verse of Scripture as a family. But it's about more than just committing words to memory. The challenge is to really think about the verse throughout the week and see how it impacts our lives. At the end of each week, over dinner, we are going to discuss it as a family.

We just finished our first week... Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not for men."

I loved meditating on this verse this past week...

Whatever you do... The word 'do' carries the idea of spending time, so you might say, "However you spend your time"... Laundry, driving our family taxi service, cooking dinner, cleaning out the dishwasher...

Work at it with ALL your heart... Perform it, accomplish it, achieve it, with all your heart... The heart in the Greek encompassed the inward life... The heart, the mind, the emotions, your very soul and life...

That's pretty overwhelming to think about. So much of what we do in life seems so trivial, routine and mundane, and yet, I'm supposed to pour my very life into everything I do. So much of what I do feels like a mindless task, but what occurs to me from this verse is that I need to be present in the moment and really live out each task I do...

And the word 'work' is about accomplishing or achieving something...  I can honestly say that I've never seen laundry as an accomplishment or something I've achieved, but what if I worked at it with all my heart...  what if I poured my heart into it as much as I do when I think I'm doing something important, perhaps then it would become a whole different experience.

As working for the Lord...  Another facet of the word 'work' is expending energy.  As a mom and a wife, I expend alot of energy during the day that leaves me tired, sometimes cranky and often depleted.  But what if, with a simple change of perspective, my daily tasks could become tasks that bring me joy and fulfillment? What if each and every one became an act of worship and an overflow of my love for God? What if I saw each task as a way to reflect the very nature of God? 

For example, what if I began to see cleaning house as a means to reflect the order of His nature...  Or laundry as a reminder of His righteousness (thinking of the saints in their white robes of righteousness)...  Or cooking healthy meals as a reminder that my body is the temple of God and I need to take care of it...  All of a sudden, routine tasks become  part of something much bigger...

And not for men...  Everything we do should be for His pleasure, because we love Him and long to obey Him.  Yes, I love my family and want to serve them, but ultimately, it will be my love and gratitude for all that God has done for me that will keep me going when I just don't feel like it. 

I think I'm going to like this summer challenge very much...  As the kids get the knack of meditating on Scripture, I will (with their permission) share some of their insights also.

For the new week, our verse is Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..."  Easy to memorize, but much to think about!