Mud and Glory

"It's not that your most important work is meaningless; it's that your most trivial movements are also significant." David Jeremiah

I sometimes get so focused on what I have determined is the big, important, and meaningful events in my life or the life of others that I can lose focus and miss the smaller detail things that make life meaningful and give it depth and honest purpose. For example, spiritually I can put a lot of emphasis on big faith steps and moments in my life--my baptism, a mission trip I went on, a spiritual retreat I attended, etc...elevating these moments to significant and anything else as secondary and less important--the servant act done when no one is watching. What about the practical aspects of serving around the house, the work needed to be present and provide discipline and care for my kids and then also putting our "business" aside occasionally to hear God's quiet presence in the "sound of silence" as Elijah reminds us (I Kings 18:46-19:21) or see God's presence in the everyday moments around me. Which action is more important? I don't believe scripture elevates one over the other. It's emphasis is that both are significant and that's why I liked the quote above. Both are needed. Both are important. Our daily bread but also the big important and significant moment of the cross. I never want to become so bogged down in the mud of daily details that I never see and experience the overwhelming impact of the cross just as I never want to get so lost in re-creating the cross moment that I forget how dirty Jesus' feet became while trudging through the mud to get to the cross. Mud and Glory.

Rubel Shelly shares about how our understanding of what is "secular" and "spiritual" might change the way we work in the world. See more at http://www.rubelshelly.com/content.asp?CID=20641