Thank
you, Jennifer, for sharing your thoughts and your new book with us.
Have
you ever felt invisible? Wondered if anyone would notice, should you stop doing
whatever it is you're doing, day in and day out?
When
our daughter was younger, I often wondered what would happen if I didn't make
the bed–after all, it'd only get messed up again. Or what if I left the laundry
and dishes untouched.
There
were times, many, when the tedium of the day wore me down and left me feeling
... insignificant.
They
say integrity is doing what you know is right when no one is watching.
Except,
Someone is always watching, right? Psalm
139 tells us God is attentive to our every move. He knows every
detail of our lives and every thought that flits through our brain. More
than that, He takes great delight in us.
Psalm
37:23 says, "The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every
detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord
upholds them by the hand" (NLT, emphasis mine*).
Pause
to consider that verse for a moment. The Lord delights in every detail
of our lives--when we're doing something grand and exciting and when we're
folding towels for the umpteenth time. Perhaps because He knows our
character, that part of us He's continually molding, is grown in the big and
the small.
I
don't know about you, but I want to be a person of integrity.
I
want to be known for my character and obedience. I want God to look down on me,
when I'm elbow deep in dishwater, and smile, and I want to do it
all–everything--for Him and His glory.
For
obedience sake.
These
emotions and thoughts were triggered as I read Luke
1:5-7. Elizabeth and Zechariah, an old and childless couple, were
known for being righteous and carefully obeying God's commands and regulations.
When we read this passage, it's easy to skip over that, probably because we
know the end of the story. They were faithful, and God rewarded them with
something they'd deeply longed for--a child. Not just a child, but the one
birthed to proclaim the coming of Christ.
Wow.
Pretty awesome, right?
But
let's step back. Back to when, still childless and likely unnoticed, John's
parents lived obediently. Scripture tells us Zechariah was a Jewish priest, and
as such, his responsibilities were to maintain the workings in the temple,
instruct the people, and on occasion, if the lot cast landed on him, to enter
the Holy Place of the Tabernacle to burn incense on the
altar of incense.
I'm
not a statistician, but it seems likely he could go his entire life and never,
not once, receive this honor. He was one of 20,000 priests! Though Scripture
doesn't tell us, I think it's safe to assume there were times he felt unseen
and wondered if what he did mattered. After all, should he simply cease
performing his duties, there were 19,999 other men ready and able to take his
place, many of which likely had children.
