God in Everything

A few years ago, I read this post from one of my Xanga subscriptions that helped something click in my head that really revolutionized the way I viewed life.  I think I had seen his point illustrated well in common "interest" lists on Facebook (God, sports, reading, etc.), but I couldn't quite put my finger on why lists like that made me uncomfortable.  I don't think there is anything inherently bad in lists like that, but I see in them (perhaps because I know so well personally), that God is separate from the other interests.

I quit tennis after my senior season of high school tennis despite planning/wanting to play in college for some time.  The reasons I quit were various, and I don't know that I remember all the circumstances correctly now either.  But I think that one reason I quit is because I thought that tennis took up too much of my time, and I wanted to pursue other, more spiritual things.  Like, I don't know, maybe I thought I would take up Bible reading for six hours a day?  I saw tennis as something entirely separate from my faith, and I believed it to be an idol based on the time I put into it.

Now, the truth is that tennis maybe/probably was an idol for me.  But I don't think that it was an idol any more because I spent more time doing it than most other things.  I didn't understand at that time that tennis could be played to the glory of God.  I did, to some extent, play as a Christian, but mostly I saw it as entirely separate from my "spiritual" activities. 

So during college, I got involved in all types of churchy things.  I went to all sorts meetings and events and "fellowship" times.  And then sometime my junior year at one of those churchy things, I heard a pastor talking about how our priority as students should not be helping in some ministry, but instead we should focus on our calling as students and perform our duties as students to the glory of God.  (Yikes!)  I didn't really understand what he was talking about until I read that blog post.

When you become a mother, your time becomes consumed with feeding, diapering, cleaning, dressing, playing, and rocking.  These things, unlike playing tennis, aren't really optional because babies can't do for themselves.  It's important to see that when we take care of our little ones, or when we play tennis, or when we go to our full-time job everyday, we need to love and serve God in everything.