December 3rd

31 Days of Jesus: Day 3 - Doing that thing you do, Part I

This idea has been bouncing around in my head for the past couple of days. It's easy to get bogged down by the mundane tasks that make up your average work day. So, the goal for today is to become really aware of Jesus' presence in the boring stuff. Whether you're a stay-at-home mom, a student, a pastor, a receptionist, are currently unemployed or anything in between, make an effort to see God shining through your work. You can do this a number of ways:

¹⁶Be joyful always; ¹⁷pray continually; ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

• You could pick a bible verse [or a phrase you love] and repeat over and over again in your head [or out loud, if you're feeling spicy]. When I first became a Christian, I was working at a ski shop in Charlotte. I wanted to bring God into my work because it was so easy for me to forget about him [sadly, 5 years later, it still is]. I was overcoming various addictions and mending some of the ways I had messed up my life and I knew that if I didn't remember God's goodness everyday, I could easily slip back into the mistakes of my then very recent past. So, everyday I picked out a bible verse to memorize and repeated all day long. It gave me something to do when we were slow and I was just straightening winter jackets. And it helped me to really focus on my Creator and the opportunity to marvel and ponder whatever verse I was learning.
• You could give endless thanks. It's a theory of mine that a person could begin giving thanks and potentially never run out of things to be grateful for. IE: Thank you for the couch I'm sitting on, that my back doesn't hurt as much anymore, for Ibuprofen, for Blogger, for this blog, for 31 days of Jesus, for friends, for Jermaine, for Sadie, for Sadie's Snowy Splash, that I got to see Cathy and Jeremy and Frankie last weekend, that they took us to a craft fair [especially because Jermaine hates those kinds of things], that my husband is not cheesy, that I am, for Sadie's gift with people, and her gift with math, for Andrea, for the amazing conversations we have, for this new fire she feels to help the people of South Africa, for her desire to go to South Africa [!!], for my amazing Charlotte/Brunswick friends, for my wonderful, loving, generous parents, for their funny quirks, for school, that I'll be graduating soon, for trees, for potatoes, for my favorite hoodie, etc, etc, etc. You get the picture. I literally could go on for hours. Unfortunately, this blog is only supposed to take 15 minutes and we've already blown by the half hour mark.
• You could pray silently for all of the people you encounter today at work [or school, or home]. So, for example, we had to give presentations today in one of my classes. I could have prayed for each student as they went up. I could have prayed for my professor as I was begging her to let me make up some of the assignments I missed. I have a ton of homework - namely two presentations - one on women pastors and one on the United Kingdom. While I'm doing them I can ask God to bless my words. I pray for the UK and for men and women pastors all over the world. You could pray for your future employer, your kids, your co-workers and the customers that will buy the products that your company sells. This is also the type of thing that could go on endlessly. Ooh! And I just had a thought - if you're shopping, you can pray for the people running you over to get to the hot ticket items and for the saleperson who is probably over-worked and underpaid. You can pray for the person/people who made the shirt/toy/game/etc that you're buying.
  

It sounds a bit corny, but basically, whatever you do, do it with Jesus in the forefront of your mind. For me this is one of those heady exercises that tends to make me feel like I'm really living. One of my major goals in life is to figure out everyday what it means to live life to the fullest. So, of course, I love this type of thing. Also, I feel like it can be a Godsend in dealing with conflict. On the other hand, I'm sure you know that committing to do this exercise is a bit like asking for trouble as far as conflict is concerned.

Happy doing! Love you!