nothing is in vain

If this time in our lives has taught us anything, it is that we are, all of us, so inextricably connected. We have seen the power that one small choice can have on a community, a nation, on the entire world, both for the good and the bad. Even if we feel disconnected from the rest of the world, the reality is that we are one, and the choices we make have lasting effects.

Yes we have certainly learned the importance of washing our hands and practicing social distancing when a virus is spreading, but what if we saw our other daily choices as having the same kind of power? From the thoughts we think about ourselves when we wake up in the morning, to the carrots we slice for our kids’ lunches, the hug we give our spouse, the problem we solve at work. These things seem small on their own, but that isn’t our mindset anymore. Suddenly, everything seems to matter. 

When Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless”, he was talking about this kind of thing. How even the most trivial actions have an impact in the Kingdom, whether or not we will ever know what this impact is. N.T. Wright has said it this way, “Whatever you do in the present in Christ and by the Spirit will somehow be part of the new world that God is making and will one day complete.” 

Can we fathom this? Doesn’t this shine a whole new light on our days? We might feel small and our days menial, especially now that a lot of us are spending so much time at home. But God wants us to remember that nothing we do for Him is wasted.

The wave we give to our neighbour through the window, the phone call to our grandmother,  the text to a friend to say hello, the yes to the board game with our kids. The holding our tongue when we’d like to say a thing or two. All of this matters. Right now, wherever we are, the good choices we make are somehow part of God’s new creation. This is what it means to be human — we are participants in the great renewal, as this earth becomes what God longs for it to be and we become the people we were created to be. 

So when we wake up, let’s resist the thoughts that want to convince us that what we do today doesn’t really matter. That our lives aren’t that important. Let’s believe that every good thing we do has infinite importance. We don’t know the seeds we are planting, the beautiful things that God will grow, but we do know, through faith, that the final garden will be glorious. 

Right there in the dirt with you,

xo Andrea