Giving your best...because you don't know any other way.

So for the last month and a half, I have been sick. Not terribly sick, just sick enough to be drained and tired and worn out. Everyone has told me to take some time off and relax or just scale back at school.
Well, today, sometime between singing our classroom "F.U.N. Fractions!" song with hand motions, strutting down an invisible catwalk wearing a 2 foot tall hat made of construction paper(I was FIERCE!), brainstorming Greek and Latin roots that mean "to write" and cutting out 150 fluency cards for a game I realized I can't "scale back". I don't know any other way to teach!
It never entered my head to cancel my "Eradicate the Misuse of 'Like' and 'You know'" campaign I had planned for this week or to hold off starting my fractions unit (THE unit for 5th grade!). I knew I had a job to do and I had the tools to do them (well, besides health, but anyway...).

It got me thinking...what would our lives be like if we worshipped God in everything we did simply because we didn't know any other way to live. Paul exhorts us to take hold of the life that is truly life in 1 Tim. 6:19 instead of "scaling back" to lean on wealth or earthly enjoyment. So how do we live in such a way to really take hold of this life that is truly life?
Paul says to:

• Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. (6:11)
• Fight the good fight of the faith. (6:12)
• Take hold of your eternal life; don't expect others to "feed" you everything (6:12)

While I can take a sick day to recuperate and leave my class with a substitute teacher, know there are no substitutes when it comes to personal, daily worship of Your Savior.

So what kind of worshipper are you? The one who when times get tough sits at the desk and checks email while the students run wild("After all God, it's been a hard week. I just need a break from serving You")? Or are you the one who still sang the National Anthem at the top of your lungs and juggled five different student writing conferences because you couldn't imagine doing any less? Can you really relate to David when he said...

How lovely is Your dwelling place, O LORD of Heaven's Armies.

I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the LORD.

With my whole being, body and soul, I shout joyfully to the living God.

A single day in Your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else!

Psalm 84:1-2, 10.