I’ve been thinking a lot lately about things like status and identity, people’s roles in life…that sort of thing.
We’ve all gotten the message at least once that you have to make a big splash in life, to have fame or fortune to be successful. I wonder why we celebrate the rich, the famous, the eccentric so much. Granted, it’s incredibly difficult to achieve those celebrated lifestyles. When I think about it though, I don’t have the motivation or ambition to do what it takes to live that way. Being a movie star for example. Just thinking about the physical demands of the job, the constant scrutiny and lack of privacy is enough to send me running for the hills.Still. It’s easy to think that some of the famous people or world leaders are deserving of the pedestals we’ve put them on and that somehow all of us ‘regular people’ are less worthy. I found a great quote from C. S. Lewis:
The work of a Beethoven, and the work of a charwoman, become spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly “as to the Lord”.
And then there’s this verse:
But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business, and work with your own hands, just as we commanded you.
First Thessalonians 4: 10b-11 (New King James)
Hey. That means my efforts in life are just as worthy in God’s eyes as the efforts of all those people up on the pedestals. Rather than getting down because I’m not one of them, I can just focus on doing my best where I am. God made me to be a unique and one of a kind person; not a copy of someone else.
I can live with that.
Earnest Parenting: advice and spiritual encouragement for parents.
This is what St Teresa of the Baby Jesus (I think) was talking about when she said (and I’m paraphraseing) “I can help a thousand souls, if I but pick up a pin for the Lord.” She was all about “the Little Way”, where every tiny little thing we do should be done for God, everything from washing our hair, to playing with our kids, to hugging our husbands, to cleaning up the mess the dog made and so forth. I think she’s considered a Doctor of the Church.
God Bless!
I’ve got friends who think that you have to live a rather dramatic life taking risks in order to demonstrate to God that you love Him. That’s fine, but I don’t know if they realize that they communicate the idea to others that if you’re not taking risks too, then you’re not as devoted to God as you should be. The arrogance of that assertion is just breath-taking.
wow.. I like this quote (or something) “Greatness in Ordinary”..it sound so cool and amazing..thanks for sharing these verses as well.