My Work is My Worship

Another sun sets and I am wondering where the day has gone. PJs are being slipped over heads and toothbrushes are lathered with toothpaste ready to clean three sets of white teeth. The day has flown by. I started out the morning in my Bible, but that came to a sudden halt when a little chatterbox woke up early and needed fed. I never made it back to my Bible time. Demands from the day presented themselves around every corner I turned, and before I knew it, the sun had set on my opportunity to dive into God’s word again.

As a mom this can happen often. Unplanned moments arise and often at times we do not expect them. I often can feel like I am not accomplishing as much for the Kingdom of God or growing in my relationship as much as I would be if I didn’t have to take care of kids all day, every day.

Sometimes I feel like all I accomplish in a day is keeping the kids alive, and on those days, it is hard to feel like I am serving the Lord. I used to be on worship team. I used to help plan ladies’ events and Sunday morning activities. Now, I have a great day if I can simply get more than 20 minutes in the Word all by myself.

With so much demanding my attention throughout every day, it is hard for me as a stay-at-home mom to set aside time to worship and serve the Lord. No moment is guaranteed not to be interrupted. Yet, I was recently reminded by my father-in-law, that my life as a mom does not have to take away from my worship and service to the Lord, because my worship is not separate from my work.

In Genesis 2:15 God commands Adam to work and keep the Garden of Eden. The Hebrew word used for work here is “abad.” It is a verb that primarily means to work or serve. It encompasses a range of activities from physical labor to acts of service and worship. By implication it means to serve as a bondsman (a person owned as property by another).

I am a bondsman of Christ. I was bought with a price, and now I am to be dedicated to the service of His Kingdom. The work the Lord has called me to as a mom is my service to Him as His bondsman, and therefore, can be done with a worshipful heart. My work as a mom is not distracting me from my worship, it is the act of my worship in obedience to Him.

The Israelites’ understanding of work was deeply connected to their covenant relationship with God, where labor was seen as a form of worship and obedience to divine commands.

This Hebrew word “abad” is scattered throughout scripture. It is translated as both work and service. “Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling” (Ps. 2:11) “Serve the Lord with gladness” (Ps. 100:2) “The sleep of a laboring man is sweet” (Ecc. 5:12) “I am no prophet; I am a worker of the soil” (Zac. 13:5). Each of these verses use the word “abad.”

As a mom, I can worship the Lord in every aspect of my day by simply doing the very things He has called me to do. Changing a diaper or braiding hair may not seem like worship to the naked eye, but if the person doing it, is “doing it as unto the Lord” (Col. 3:23) then it is an act of worship.

Back in Genesis 2:15, God also commanded Adam to keep the garden. This Hebrew word means to hedge about (as with thorns), guard, protect, attend to. Adam was called to guard and attend the gift the Lord had given to him. If my children are a gift from the Lord (Psalm 127:3), and the work He has prepared for me, then every act of attending to them is an act of worship to the Lord.

I am also called to guard and protect my gift from the devil. He will try to steel my gift, and I must not let him. I must plant a hedge of thorns around my thoughts and work to protect the ideals of my mission as a mom. I must guard myself from the mindset that children are a hindrance, and cling to the promise that children are a blessing. I am not abandoning my worship by being a mom, being a mom is my worship.

The Lord describes Satan as being full of wisdom and perfect beauty (Ez. 28:12…Tyre is a type of Satin). If God, the author of wisdom and beauty, chose to describe Satan with such words, then the devil is way smarter and more beautiful than we may realize. He doesn’t temp us with things that look bad in our eyes. He is the master of all con men, the best of the best. Satan will distract us from the things the Lord has called us to with things that look like they are good and beautiful. Satan is crafty and smarter than me, but he cannot compare to the Author of wisdom! Abiding in the Lord will make me able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Eph. 6:11…The Armor of God). I cannot do it alone.

I am challenged by Genesis 2:15 to protect and guard the gift and mission the Lord has given to me. At first glance, one could interpret this as protecting your children themselves. My mind goes in a different direction. We are command to teach our children (Deu. 6:7), not to exasperate or imbitter them (Eph. 6:4, Col. 3:21), and to view them as a reward (Ps. 127:3), yet, the Bible also has beautiful pictures of giving our children to the Lord (1 Sam. 1:27-28) (Gen. 22:1-14… The sacrifice of Isaac). There is this beautiful image of diligently training our children up in the way they should go with open hands. This is HARD as a mom. I want to protect my kids from everything! Yet, instead of having that mindset, I should rather focus on training them up in the ways of the Lord and equipping them for the world they are going into. To hold them with open hands and dedicate them to the Lord. Afterall, as much as I love my kids, I know the Lord loves them even more than I do.

This continues to be a daily battle, a daily decision. My children may not always be healthy, and they may get hurt along the way, but instead of facing unknown moments with the question “why”, I must face them with the question “what”. What are you trying to teach me Lord, because I know that you work all things together for the GOOD of those who love You (Rom. 8:28).

Because of these pictures in the Bible, I am more challenged by Gen. 2:15 to guard and protect my mindset around motherhood not necessarily my children themselves. My children are a gift from the Lord, and I treasure them, but this mission of radical motherhood is also a gift from the Lord. Satin will try to attach the work/worship I am doing within my home, and he will not come tempting me with things that I view as destructive. He will use things that appear to be good in human eyes. He will try to discourage me with the worldly success of those around me. He may even try to draw me away from the mission the Lord has called me to by enticing me with something that would appear to be serving the Lord.

No service, even if it appears to be for the Lord, could be more important than the one He has called me to. For any service outside of that, is not the one He has prepared for me at this time. If I begin to pursue service to the Lord based on what people notice or service that can be earthly measured, then I am not doing it for the Glory of the Lord. I am seeking Carissa’s glory and neglecting the act of worship in the work He has for me.

I can serve Him in many ways alongside my work as a mom, in fact I think I should. There are many ways we as moms can serve the Lord alongside out mama mission, but if those acts of service start to take the place of the work the Lord has called me to as a mom, then it is not worth it. I can never let a good thing take the place of the great thing the Lord has called me to.

“For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.” 1 Cor. 7:22

In Christ we find true freedom, but we now no longer live our lives for ourselves, but rather devoted to His work and His glory through that work. We are God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10). He has called each of us to a different work and each of us are to live out that work as an act of worship to Him. Guarding and protecting, planting a hedge of thorns around our mindset that encompasses the work He has called us to.

God has called me to be a mom, and therefore every moment that fills my day, no matter how small, should be an act of worship to Him. My family may benefit from the work that I do, but I do not do it for them, rather for Christ, and through that work, my family is profoundly blessed!

This is the garden He has called me to work and keep.

Another sun sets and I am wondering where the day has gone. With every PJ shirt I slip over tired eyes and with every tooth I brush, I know that no matter how much “work” I did or did not get done today, I did it all for the Glory of the Lord as an act of worship to Him. The day has flown by. I started out the morning in my Bible and with every demand that presented itself around every corner I turned, I did it with a heart of worship as a bondsman of Christ. My children did not distract me from my worship today, they were my act of worship.