Do Ordinary Things With God

Imagine the space in and around your home as a garden. Your garden.

You are the gardener – the steward of everything on that piece of land: the home, and everything in it.

This is not merely an imagination exercise. It is the very thing Scripture tells us we were made for.

The Garden of Eden story in Genesis sets up this exact storyline: God placed man and woman on a plot of land. Their purpose? To steward the place God gave them for their home. (Genesis 2:8-15)

"Obedience to God" in that garden was simply this: to be a creative steward alongside Him. And "worship of God" in that place was merely a natural expression of delight in and through our acts of creative stewardship.

As the leader of God's tribes, Moses knew this and what it implied. He knew it was still the main storyline. So, just before he sent God’s People into the promised land – tribe by tribe and family by family – he gave this advice to those parents:

[If you want to remain God’s People for generations,]
Talk about God and His ways with your children.
Worship Him in your daily life together – in and around your home.
In your day-to-day activities, live as His People.
This is how to love God with your whole being.

– Deuteronomy 6:4-9 [paraphrased]

How are we to do this in our homes?

First, remind yourself: God’s storyline for humanity has not changed. Our deepest spiritual purpose is lived out by doing ordinary things with God – Monday through Saturday. (The seventh day is set apart to simply rest with Him.)

This "with God" life comes by building spiritual muscle memory – practicing being “present” to God in our day. In short: take care to remember He is right next to you throughout your day – just as He was present to His first children in their garden.

Remembering He is right next to you throughout your day – to talk to, complain to, to thank, and to seek advice from – will gradually make Him the primary relationship in your "garden estate".

Then, as you do life with Him in and around your home, invite your children to join you, always reminding them:

"When I ask you to do this or that with me, we are doing it to create goodness and beauty. Creating goodness and beauty is the true mark of being God's People. And whatever we do, we do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord."  – Colossians 3:23