Sweeping the Streets

I reread "Safely Home" by Randy Alcorn over the past week. 
It truly is one of the most convicting, best books I've ever read. It is a wonderful mixture of story and truth, theology and plot. The rise and fall of the drama is interesting and captivating.  The behind-the-scenes glimpses into Heaven create a longing for this place that I have never felt before. The characters are convincing and easy to relate to. 
Alcorn is an excellent author. 
But, I'm not here to sell the book - although, please, if you haven't read it, put it on the book list. 

In the middle of the book, Alcorn has his main character quote Martin Luther. Here is Luther's quote:
"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."

I've read this book a couple of times, and every time, this quote hits me. There are so many days when I feel like I'm not doing enough for God, or "big enough" things for Him - that my little corner of the world is small and insignificant.

I forget that God created this corner as well as every other space. As CS Lewis puts it "There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan." God has claimed my corner for His glory. 

I forget that the people I come in contact with were designed by Him and for Him, just as the Chinese Christians were, the Iraqi Muslims, the Worldview students, the Central American Indians...

I am called to serve as a nanny right now. As a gymnastics coach. As a piano teacher. As a sister. As a friend. As a daughter. 

My calling is this - to nanny so well that "all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great [nanny] who did [her] job well";  to nanny so that the God who claims this corner in space and time will be glorified by my actions, words and thoughts.  To be faithful to where God has brought me and to the task that He has appointed to me. 

I pray that wherever you are, whatever your task today, that you would be faithful to your calling, that you might be a great "street sweeper" who does his job well.