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The Aroma of Christ in the Mundane

BROOKE URISH | GUEST As I walked past our guest room–turned–laundry-folding area, my stomach sank. How could there be so much laundry to fold? I pushed it out of my mind to focus on a more pressing need—my young kids need lunch. Once in the kitchen, the sinking feeling returned at the sight of a sink full of dishes. Didn’t I just do these this morning? My six-year-old asks me to play baseball out back for what feels like the hundredth time, and I snap—“I can’t play right now, stop asking me!” Immediately, I regret my tone and recognize that he deserves an apology. As a mom to three young children, this is a snapshot of a typical day. I often feel insufficient for the task at hand. I can’t seem to stay on top of laundry, dishes, school tasks, cooking, etc., so I label myself a “bad homemaker.” However, it’s times like this when the Lord brings to mind the encouraging words a wise woman once shared with me: “Brooke, God is pleased with what you do in your home, even when you mess it up.” The Aroma of Christ Is this really true? When I turned to Scripture looking for a roadmap or a checklist, God gave me something else entirely. He gave me an identity. In 2 Corinthians 2:15 Paul says: “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” I am the aroma of Christ to God? What does that mean?...

The Aroma of Christ in the Mundane2026-05-29T13:41:11+00:00

Weak at Work: How God Supplies Our Strength

JENNIFER WHITE |GUEST Editor’s Note: this article contains stories of infancy and pregnancy loss. My husband, a newly elected church elder, put the car in park. We locked eyes. “Wait,” I said. “Before we go in, let’s think through what we are going to say.” We agreed to tell the young couple that we loved them. We wanted to remind them of God’s great love for them. We planned to pray and offer various resources available through our church.  As we entered the hospital room, we both froze. The mom sat in bed quietly crying. The teary father held their baby boy wrapped in a crinkly cooling blanket, protecting his body and skin so his siblings could meet him. He had died unexpectedly the day before in an emergency c-section. As we looked in the parents’ eyes, we crumbled, grieving and crying with this family. We prayed the truths of God’s word over their lives: that He is near to the brokenhearted, that He loves little children, that He is our shepherd and our rock. Even in the newness of grief and shock of pain, they rehearsed God’s truths along with us. Then, we left them to hold their baby boy, to grieve and cry together. As we exited, I felt overwhelmed and helpless. “Lord,” I prayed, “are you sure? Am I the right person for this job? Was I capable or strong enough? Did we say the right things? Did we stay long enough? Too long? Did our visit make things easier or harder for these grieving parents?” When We Are Inadequate This hospital visit happened during my third week serving as Women’s Ministry Director at my church....

Weak at Work: How God Supplies Our Strength2026-02-27T20:49:31+00:00

Standing Still in His Presence

KC JONES | GUEST For women, “moving” is never the problem. Whether we are moving forward, moving backward, or shuffling sideways in some sort of bizarre-crab walk, we are content to be in motion. Movement means things are happening; we are accomplishing much or at least appearing to do so. Movement also implies that by doing one thing, we are not doing something else. In many ways, it keeps us distracted from other things. Busyness can be a buffer against the pain of living in a broken world because it provides us with something else, anything else, on which to focus so that we don’t have to face the challenges, heartaches, and brokenness we all experience deep in our hearts.   Running on Empty  Don’t get me wrong: work is not the problem. Work was considered good before the Fall. After God created Adam, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). After He makes Man, God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him” (2:18). Woman is declared “helper” or “Ezer”; a sufficient support for Man. It is the same term used to describe the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, or “Paraclete” in the Greek. God fashioned Woman to be hard-working, capable, and strong. Our problem isn’t that we cannot “manage” all the to-do lists, work tasks, and extra-curriculars we cram into our schedules; it is that we often do not stand still. We don’t stop working. Even when we feel inclined to sit at Jesus’ feet as Mary did, we also feel the pull of a “Martha” mentality when faced with full days.   Our constant busyness inevitably leaves us empty. We begin to struggle with disillusionment and doubt. We question what God is doing in our lives. We wonder why we work so hard if it does not make us any happier. We may feel overwhelmed about another schoolyear starting or another project deadline because we know there will just be another transition waiting for us at the end. It can feel like we are running on a proverbial hamster-wheel. Yet, we do have hope. It is an abundant hope, and it is ours for the taking...  

Standing Still in His Presence2025-08-23T14:00:59+00:00

Why the Work We Do Matters

MARIA CURREY | CONTRIBUTOR My mouth was needle-numbed on one side, wide open, gauze in one corner, a blue plastic place holder clamped between my feeling teeth and gums, and the drilling began. A cavity filling from childhood outlived its lifespan and needed to be replaced. Silenced, numbed, and essentially gagged, I was at the mercy of my dentist’s expertise and experience. Soon I was back in business, ready to chew again! Aren’t you grateful when someone has the education, gifting, and ability to do his or her job? Whether a stay-at-home mom, plumber, teacher, truck driver, doctor, or in ministry, the work each person does matters and has intrinsic value. Mothers cover countless roles and responsibilities around the clock, a plumber unclogs backed up waters and broken pipes, a teacher provides insights to all eventual jobs, truck drivers ensure supplies are transported and delivered, a doctor of any specialty facilitates healing and wellness, while one in ministry facilitates spiritual healing and wellness.  When we stop to consider what it means to work, in every job, calling, or duty, we all need each other and the work done around us. Our world rotates in daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly cycles of work. Working for the Lord As workers for Christ, however, we are freed to a heavenly, God-given approach to work. Paul encourages the church in Colossae to work as if they are working for the Lord. Colossians 3:23-24 exhorts, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”...

Why the Work We Do Matters2025-08-13T21:08:18+00:00

Work: Is it More Than Boney Fingers?

TARA GIBBS | CONTRIBUTOR Work, what is it good for? Dolly Parton sings of the drudgery in “9-5.” “Tumble out of bed, and I stumble to the kitchen. Pour myself a cup of ambition, and yawn and stretch and try to come to life. Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin'. Out on the street, the traffic starts jumpin' with folks like me on the job from 9 to 5.” Hoyt Axton expresses it even more succinctly in his 1974 hit Boney Fingers. “Work your fingers to the bone; what do you get? Boney Fingers. Boney Fingers!” Henry Wordsworth Longfellow provides a noble counter-point of view in The Blacksmith, … Toiling,—rejoicing,—sorrowing,      Onward through life he goes; Each morning sees some task begin,      Each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done,      Has earned a night's repose. Songs about the drudgery of work and boney fingers tell my heart one story about work while Longfellow tells another. This Labor Day I cannot help but wonder, “What story does God tell me about work, and how much are my thoughts about work shaped by His story?” God Works and God Gave Us Work The story God tells about work begins in Genesis 1, and guess who is doing the very first work? God. Is work good? God worked. Not only that, while still in the Bible’s first chapter, we see God crafting image bearers to serve as His working ambassadors. “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth,” (Gen. 1:28). God made birds and fish and animals and plants, and then He made us and charged us to take care of all He had crafted. Genesis 2:15 goes on, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it,” and we see God bringing every creature to the man to be named “and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name,” (Gen. 2:19b). When you and I work as God’s image-bearing ambassadors to His creation, we are doing what He created us to do. Our work is dignifying to us, glorifying to God, and a blessing to this world.  When things got all messed up in Genesis 3, and work became something we had to fight thorns and thistles to do, it did not remove the foundational goodness of work...

Work: Is it More Than Boney Fingers?2023-08-30T14:54:38+00:00

How God Redeems and Transforms our Work

ABBY KARSTEN|GUEST What do you want to do when you grow up? This is a question every child is asked. Even into college, I only had a vague idea. For many years, my most honest, but rarely declared, answer was that I wanted to win a Nobel prize. (That was after I realized that I would not, ever, qualify for the Olympics.) I knew “Nobel prize winner” wasn’t exactly a profession, but even as a nine-year-old, I felt stirred to do something big with my life. I wanted to change the world—and I wanted people to notice. But I didn’t know any more of the details. We can smile at youthful naivety, but a sober look at our own hearts still reveals a complicated relationship with work. Sometimes it feels like drudgery: pulling weeds, enduring seat-numbing meetings, or refolding the basket of laundry the toddler just dumped. We groan: “When will it stop?” Other times, our work sparks a fire of delight in our souls: cooking a beautiful meal, presenting an original solution to a complicated problem, or using pivot tables to construct an elegant and efficient spreadsheet. Maybe we’ve grown to relax our goal of changing the world (see Nobel Prize, above) and we’re simply thrilled to be influencing our corner of it. We marvel: “What a privilege that this work is a part of my life!” A brief history Before sin came into the world, God ordained work as an opportunity for humans to mirror God’s own work of creation (see Gen. 1:27-28). Work is beautiful and good because it offers us an opportunity to use the gifts God has given us to help participate in the flourishing of God’s world. Adam and Eve received instructions to fill, subdue, and rule; this direction only came to humans, being made in God’s image. Additionally, God took pleasure in his work (see Genesis 1) and we do, too. We create, build, and cultivate, and look back at our efforts and say, “This is good!” Unfortunately, because of the Fall of man, our efforts are almost constantly thwarted. We must acknowledge that our work will be, in turns, delightful and disappointing, fun and frustrating. Nevertheless, we should aim to pursue “good work,” or work that pleases God. Dan Doriani writes, “Work pleases God if it promotes the common good. The common good includes care for God’s creation, but we especially care for mankind. The first goal is to love our neighbor, which we do when we supply food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, and whatever edifies others.”1  Paul reminds believers that when we use the gifts God has given us, we work for his glory: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Col 3:23–24). And still, sin persists The tricky thing is that when we discover that we are doing good work, it can creep into our sense of identity, replacing our primary identity in Christ. Even while pursuing work that aids in human flourishing, that effort can become an end in itself, rather than a means to glorify God. Culture makes it all too easy to slide in that direction, encouraging us to let our work become a pathway to our own glory. It is socially acceptable to put in excessive hours on “good work,” while excusing ourselves from caring for those around us—or even ourselves. David Zahl posits, “Constant grinding makes a perfect diversion from conscience or loneliness or grief or vulnerability—a way of imposing order on the chaos of relating to another person or oneself.”2 Like every idol, though, the more we serve it, the more it expects of us. Therefore, the more we turn work into an instrument for our own glory, the more the effects of the Fall threaten to undermine the identity we have constructed...

How God Redeems and Transforms our Work2023-03-24T18:15:42+00:00

The Delight and Direction of Work

BECKY KIERN|CONTRIBUTOR My journey into the workplace began in 1996 on a warm summer’s evening. Since I was not yet old enough to drive, my Mom drove me to the neighbor’s house, where I was to spend the evening babysitting. She had the windows rolled down and the radio blaring as I sat in the passenger seat, filled with a mixture of excited pride and absolute terror. Twenty five years later, my work resume has included everything from answering phone calls in the back of a ham store (ham juice ruined my favorite shoes, but that’s another story), to working alongside some of the world’s finest heart surgeons. Some seasons of life have included work which was so fulfilling I woke up excited to get to the day’s task; while work in other seasons was so vexing, I dreaded going to bed at night, knowing the next day held hours filled with frustration. Often when our labors are difficult, discouragement creeps in and we find ourselves asking, “Does any of my work matter?” or “What is the purpose of all this hard work?” Created to Work In the beginning of the Biblical narrative, Genesis 1:1 introduces God, focusing primarily on His work as Creator. He is described as first creating the heavens and the earth before turning his attention to the creation of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. In Genesis 1:26, Moses continues to explain the creation narrative by recounting God’s words, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”                   So God created them in his own image,             in his own image he created him;             male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over every living thing.” After giving Adam and Eve His blessing, God called them both to do two things: to build a family together and to work. When all was good, when Adam and Eve walked freely with God, before shame, toil, broken dreams, or altered plans had entered into the world, humans were made for and instructed to work. Our work has dignity, because through it, we reflect the goodness of our Creator....

The Delight and Direction of Work2023-03-24T18:16:15+00:00

When Furrows Fight Back

AIMEE JOSEPH|GUEST Complaining about work is the adult equivalent of college students complaining about mid-terms and finals. And let’s be real, we all have those days when work feels like a weight too heavy to carry and “Everybody’s working for the weekend” is our theme song. We are wired for work. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a result of the fall. Challenges in work and struggles with identity around work were most assuredly a consequence of man’s rebellion against God’s created and careful order; however, work itself honors God and is a needed part of human flourishing. Wonderful Work In his pattern of the newly minted perfect world, God offered Adam and Eve significant freedom to do significant work on the fresh earth. There were animals to name and gardens to tame. Carl Linnaeus had nothing on them. Work was not a burden, but a particular privilege for those made uniquely in God’s image. God blessed the first human couple by giving them the significant work known as the cultural mandate. “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’.” (Genesis 1:28). As one who lives in San Diego and frequents the world-renowned San Diego Zoo, I can tell you this is no small task. The San Diego Zoo employs 2,300 employees to care for their menagerie. God entrusted Adam and Eve with a task that was large enough for the intellectual, physical, and creative capacities he gave them. God wired us for work. My teenaged children balk at having to do special projects around our home. As good parents, we force them to do so anyway. When the day is done, they almost always say, “Today was a good day. We worked hard and accomplished a lot.” Similarly, sometimes I catch my husband hanging out in the shed after we have organized its chaos. There is something so human and right about accomplishment after hard work. Yet you and I both know that work is not always a worshipful experience....

When Furrows Fight Back2023-03-24T18:16:45+00:00

The Work of Waiting

Since returning from his sabbatical last fall, my pastor has been encouraging our church family to cultivate times of silence and solitude to be with the Lord. Our staff team has put this into action by taking a monthly day of prayer and reflection. Once each month, we devote what would normally be a workday to intentionally spending time resting with the Lord. When we first started this practice, I pondered what I could do to set this day apart. I decided to bake bread, knowing that doing so would help me to slow down and enjoy this gift of a day. I’ve tried a few different recipes now, some with more success than others. I recently received a new cookbook that included a “No-Knead” bread recipe, and I looked forward to trying it. This recipe seemed to offer all the goodness of bread-making with barely any hands-on effort or mess. “Just let time do the work!” the recipe boasted. Waiting is Work I prepped the dough the night before, since it would need 12-18 hours to rise. As the next morning dawned and I anxiously peaked at the dough (that still had hours to go), I was struck by an unwelcome reminder: waiting is work. Yes, yeast and time were doing the hard work of fermentation to make my bread dough rise, but that didn’t free me from work of my own. I had to manage my patience, wrestle with my inability to control the speed or quality of the proof, resist the temptation to just throw out the dough when I knew the chilly air of my apartment was hindering its rise. I also couldn’t just stare at the bowl of dough all day— I needed to devote my attention to other life-and-rest-giving pursuits so that I wouldn’t squander this precious day...

The Work of Waiting2022-05-05T00:42:13+00:00
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