Spiritual Discipline - WORSHIP

So the spiritual discipline that we were assigned to focus on during the Glorieta trip (previous blog-go read!) was WORSHIP. Most people think of worship as the singing and dancing part of a church service on Sunday morning when you gather inside a church building. Don’t get me wrong that is worship… but there is also a larger picture of this awesome discipline.

So in my teacher like mind… I chose to look up the definition on Google and took the first definition listed. Here it is… Noun: the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.

Obviously this is a broad stretch of worship. In my mind, many actions can express feelings of reverence to the Lord…  singing, dancing, being silent, choosing to give, providing service and many other actions come to mind. So for me… this trip was going to be a breathtaking time of worship through the beautiful nature that I would be surrounded with.

I saw the Lord in everything we did. As we plowed through the snow, often times knee deep, I saw the Lord in his greatness of providing the snow and nutrients to the land. As we dug out the snow to lay our tent, the brightness of the green grass buried deep under that same snow… the promise He has told us all to keep and protect us. As we gathered the materials we needed to complete a task, I was in awe of how many items we could come up with. He is the ultimate provider. As we prepared our meal in the cold, we gave Him praise for allowing small things like matches and fuel to give us such warmth from deep inside our tummys.

You see my narrow mind allowed my view of worship to be seen only as the moments I am in awe by the singing from my soul or the blessings provided through another person’s singing abilities. Thankfully the Lord is so much BIGGEER than this and through my practice of this spiritual discipline; I am reminded of just how easy it is to see the Lord in so many things.

So, if you read my blog about Glorieta, you will know that we had a project that we were to create that was a symbol of awe and worship to the Lord. Something a person walking by could see and stand in amazement and see the goodness of the Lord through this. It seemed like such a large task that we were all unworthy to create, but in terms of being obedient and trying to understand this discipline to the greatest level, we took on the task.

During the previous day, we had gathered all the materials that we could and were set to begin. Through the lack of desire, laziness, being cold, wanting to leave and probably many other excuses that I could think of – our group was no longer really a “group” for we all had our own agendas. So, in desperation and my own personal desire to be obedient… I chose to take on the project alone with the ideas that we had as a group shared together.

We discussed designing a target like feature that was symbolic to where we desire to be with the Lord. Basically, we all start on the outside of the target and try to get closer to the bull’s-eye as we grow in our personal walks. Easy enough… so I built the project not expecting the Lord to blow me away…

Funny thing. He always has more in store when we choose to be obedient.

As I created the project (image below), I was amazed at all the different aspects of nature I was able to use. The different colors: white, brown, ash, green, and stone grey. The different materials: stems, leaves, stone, ash, snow, and pine needles. The different textures: solid, rough, smooth, slick and prickly. I think you might start to see the amazing view I was gathering as I created this project. So I laid out the target and stood back to look at what else it might need…

The Lord doesn’t need me to speak. He didn’t need me to add anything else. The main thing He was showing me is that all of these items, textures, colors, and so on were already out there in the nature…. But until I was guided into collecting them, I was oblivious to His goodness.

I finished the project and shared with my group as they began returning from their own engagements that they choose to go do. My reverence to His creation, His beauty, that alone was worth worshiping Him. The Lord is good.

So sweet friends, how will you choose to worship Him today? Will you only worship Him as you sing praise on Sunday morning? What about only when you sing in your car to Chris Tomlin? Will you worship only when He provides for you? Or when He protects you from harmful things?

OR

Will you choose to worship Him in the goodness of work, even during the boring meeting on Monday morning?  In the beauty of nature and wildlife? In the check that is paying less than what you were expecting? In the moments when you choose to be patient with an adult that is hard to be around?

When will you choose to worship Him!?

 He is ALL around us sweet friends.

 Worship Him through it all.

The good and the bad….

I love you dearly.