A significant amount of our time in Mozambique has been spent doing some form of manual labor. We have done everything from shoveling bat poop to moving 1000 cinder blocks over a wall and across the yard. We have lugged palm tree branches across a farm and built benches for neighborhood children to sit on while they eat. My contractor-father would be proud to hear that I successfully operated a drill, a saw and a post-hole digger in one day. I also received the worst sunburn of my life while building a supporting wall.
Those of you who know me well are aware that this is not my domain. I’m not exactly a physical labor kind of girl. As my parents recall, I quit the game of soccer at the age of five, “because I don’t like to sweat.” I stray from lifting anything too heavy, as I am fully aware that I lack upper body strength. I truly can’t remember the last time I worked out and my asthma doesn’t exactly help matters either. I’m much more comfortable in a library, where I can use my mind to solve any problem.
Alas, that wasn’t an option this month. I was going to working my body and working it hard. I’ll be the first to admit that I did not respond well in the beginning of the month. I had a terrible attitude. Is this the reason I came on the World Race? Did I leave my family and friends to fly to the other side of the world and do tasks that I could have done with my parents in the backyard? Where are the adorable orphans that I was supposed to be playing with?
And then I remembered: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men (Colossians 3:23)
It was a rude awakening, but I realized that I wasn’t working for the glory of God; I was working for my own glory. I was doing His work, yes, but I was overly concerned with the way my month would be perceived by others. I was worried that once blogs and pictures were put up, people back home would question what I was doing with my time. I was upset that I wouldn’t be having experiences like I did in Swaziland, constantly being loved by kids.
How selfish is that?
Work that is done for oneself is nothing; it decays away with the passing of time. Work done in the Lord, however, continues on to glorify Him. The Lord can use you at any time to be a blessing to others. It may look like shoveling bat poop or it may be simply smiling at a stranger. The only important part is that your whole heart is invested in your tasks in the name of Jesus. God doesn’t care what you’re doing necessarily, He just cares where your heart is at.
