“Can I take you out for coffee soon?” I asked a friend recently.

“Um, sure,” she responded, caught off guard that I came up to her as her Bible study group was leaving the room.  I knew the timing was bad, but truth be told, I was desperate.  Lola is known for praying and I urgently needed another person to help pray me through a series of trials and challenges.

Lola is one of many people I cherish in my life that pray.  I mean pray.  They don’t necessarily use nice, flowery clichés or words so big I need to be armed with a dictionary.  I’m talking about talking, to their Father.  Regularly.  They just can’t help but talk to Him.  He’s their Daddy after all and their hearts grow void and desolate if they go too long without chatting a bit with Him or just sitting to listen to what He has to say.

Colossians 4:2 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” 

I’m grateful to be surrounded by such incredible people who devote themselves to prayer.  They inspire me to do the same, but mostly I’m challenged to do so because I’ve seen the tremendous, unspeakable effects of prayer.  Revelations 5:8 talks about the “golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”  Let’s devote ourselves to filling those bowls.

This weekend our church held an event called, Community Impact Project. For the last few months we have watched videos in our services highlighting the types of projects that would be going on around the community this weekend. Many of the projects tugged at my heart, especially those involving single parents who needed help with general household projects—projects that I take for granted around my home because I have a “handy” husband who takes care of those details for our family.

My husband thought it would be a great idea, and a daddy-daughter opportunity, to sign up himself and our two daughters for one of the project teams. As our summer unfolded with vacations and houseguests, the day seemed to sneak up. On Wednesday evening this week we received a call from the church with the assignment. At first we were hesitant about it and thought to cancel. After all we had just arrived back in town and we were tired from vacation…(some excuse, right?).

We dismissed that thought and went on to the more pressing issue—the assignment. My perfectly capable husband and two young, beautiful daughters had been assigned to pick up trash along a busy intersection. (Really?) They wanted to help a family in need, not walk along a polluted intersection in the blazing sun picking up others’ litter. Or was it me that didn’t want my kiddos involved in such a task?

The next morning, conviction set in. And I mean Conviction with a capital C. I curled up in my comfy chair with a cup of hot coffee and read from Colossians—hoping to get a jump-start on writing the post for this week. Guess what it said?

“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.” Colossians 3:23-24

I closed my Bible, not sure whether to laugh or cry. (I ended up doing both.) There it was in black and white print from the mouth of Paul. “Whatever you do, whether picking up trash at the corner of Lincoln and Jordan, or doing laundry, dishes, or other chores, work at it with ALL your heart as working for the Lord.” (Ouch!)

As I worked around the house on Saturday catching up on laundry and chores, I felt different. I kind of enjoyed it. My husband and girls came home exhausted from collecting nine bags of trash in a three-hour period, but they had smiles on their faces. And I’m pretty sure God was glorified in all of this because a lesson had been learned, and re-learned, by our family this weekend. Thank you Lord for the trash assignment as it will forever be a treasured reminder of Who we work for.