Worship, in the midst...

I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday - and I am not promising to do it absolutely every day - though I wanted to. My daughter is getting over an illness and it just took more out of me than usual to care for her. She just needed extra TLC; lots of holding, lots of my close presence while she was playing. And when deprived of these, for certain necessary periods, she would cry or fuss, which wore on my nerves. Consequently, not a lot of housework got done. The kitchen was a mess.

At night, I got to spend some time going over scriptures the Lord had used to speak to me in a prior season. I also got to read some of a book on worship. It was special time, enabled by my husband's taking care of certain things and overlooking others. I began to wonder, though, is it possible to worship the Lord in a dirty kitchen? I think yes, and no.

Yes, because authentic worship can happen anywhere. Paul and Silas worshipped in jail chains.

No, because a dirty kitchen impedes my ability to perceive the beauty of God's holiness.

Can worship take place in the midst of a day marked by doing chores? Yes. Should my whole life be about doing chores? No.

But chores need to happen, I'm finding out. Ordering my life is good; it helps free me up to worship the Lord in concentrated fashion. I hear Mary vs. Martha concerns all the time. The truth is I have to be somewhat disciplined in order to be able to sit at Jesus' feet. Certain things have to get done. There has to be space on the floor for me to sit, not covered in toys or cat hair.

My danger in becoming Martha-like is not that I'll do too many chores. I'm more likely to err on the side of too few chores. Not to say I don't get distracted. Usually it's on the computer, through e-mail or online social networking. I have to physically force myself to walk away from it and remember that "only a few things are necessary, and really only One."

I read this quote today that encouraged me to live life as sacred - every moment and every space.

"The way wholly loving God works out under the new covenant is in heartfelt obedience to the terms of that covenant ... not so much of a desacralization of space and time and food, as with a sacralization of all space and all time and all food: what God has declared holy let no man declare unholy." (D.A. Carson, Worship by the Book, 40)

There are a lot of ways I could conclude this post, but I just feel affirmed. If taking care of certain basic household needs is holy, I'm not going to let myself or anyone else tell me it's a pitiful waste of my life.