I was putting together a little care package of cookies and flowers for a friend who’s pregnant and on bed rest.
For months.
With two other toddlers. Active toddlers.
Yeah. Wow.
As I pray for her and write a note, this is the verse that comes to mind:
“I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.” Nehemiah 6:3
God gives Nehemiah the important job of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, but there are many who would like to distract or deter him from his work – get him to come down off the wall.
My friend has the great work of resting so that God can safely nurture and grow the life in her womb.
Another friend has the great work of finishing her Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Another has the great work of gently confronting a friend with a drinking problem.
My 88-year-old aunt who has the great work of praying for the world.
Our “great work” can take so many different forms. But often the refrain that plays in our head is:
“I’m not doing anything important. I’m only a _________________”
Whatever we’re doing is a “great work” when given by God and done for Him.
What great work has God given you to do that you need to resist distractions from?
If you’re a mom at home with kids this Mother’s Day, remember what Peggy Campolo would answer when someone asked, “And what is it that you do, dear?”
Peggy would reply, “I am socializing two homo sapiens into the dominant values of the Judeo-Christian tradition in order that they might be instruments for the transformation of the social order into the kind of eschatological utopia that God willed from the beginning of creation.”
Then Peggy would ask the other person, “And what do you do?”
Single or married, mother or auntie, volunteer or paid, we all have a great work – significant work from God.
You are doing a great work. Don’t come down.
