In the spring of 2019, before we knew the sickness going around was Covid, I was standing in my classroom feeling torn because one of my kids was sick and needed to be picked up from school. I had just returned from a week of being sick myself and was feeling guilty about having to tell my principal I’d need another sub. Fortunately, the teacher across the hall was a 35-year veteran teacher, so I popped over to ask her to watch my class for a few minutes while I figured things out. The words she spoke next became a catalyst of change in my life. She gently said, “Lindsay, I’ve been doing this a long time and I’m going to tell you something I wish someone had told me when I was raising my own kids: The only place you're irreplaceable is home.” Those words gave me the confidence I needed to make the right choice, and I can’t tell you how many times in the years since I’ve repeated those words to myself. It turned out that she was right. A sub came, my own child was held and nurtured back to health, and my students still learned English.  

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I know we can’t always make the choice to drop everything and go home, and maybe that scenario seems a little silly, but I’d spent the decades prior believing my worth was tied to my productivity. That belief carried over into everything I did. I felt this same pressure to perform in church, too. For a long time, I said, “yes” simply because I thought it meant I was serving well and carrying out the mission of being the hands and feet of Jesus. It took me a while to realize that until I fulfilled God’s call on my life regarding my own children, I was neglecting the most important work He’d called me to at this stage of life. I was easily guilted into doing things because I hadn’t yet learned that sometimes stepping in where I wasn’t called took the job away from someone else. Doing everything to the glory of God is not the same thing as doing everything. It means that we take responsibility for the specific work God has entrusted to us, not waiting for someone else to do it for us. That looked like prioritizing family, for me specifically. I don’t know what it looks like for you. What I do know, though, is that God has specific work for you to do, too.  

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (NIV). God didn’t put us on this Earth and forget to give us things to do. He put us here having already made a plan for our lives. What a relief!! We are meant to be working, and we are meant to be productive. Everything we do has an ultimate purpose – to glorify God – wherever He has called you. This isn’t an excuse to sit back and wait until something strikes your interest, though. God Himself worked hard for six days straight in Genesis 1 before taking His one day of rest. He modeled for us the importance of working hard before rest, so we can conclude it’s an important part of life, but we don’t always know what God has for us. Sometimes it takes a lot of prayer and trying things to figure it out. If you aren’t sure what work God has planned for you, start by looking at your interests and then at the openings around you. What area of the church needs filling? What part of the community could use your specific talents? ACF has enough services and ministries that you could easily find a need that needs filling! We may have to put in a little effort to figure it out, but I promise God has something for you. Be willing to work hard, and in doing so, remember to do it all for the glory of God.