I was picking up my daughter from the carpool line as I began to reflect on my life: What have I done today to really impact the Kingdom of God? I got up and got ready for work. I kissed my wife and kids goodbye. I drank some coffee from the community coffee pot at the office. I taught some students via zoom. I went into some students' houses to teach them. I answered a whole lot of emails. I drank some more coffee. I had a few conversations with my coworkers, and then I got in my car to go and pick up my daughter. That was it. That was pretty much the extent of my day. I hadn’t impacted anyone’s life in a profound way. I hadn’t preached the gospel that day or fed anyone who was hungry or helped anyone in need. I had just lived my life, step after step, activity after activity, moment after moment. So at the end of the day, I found myself asking the question, “What have I done to impact the Kingdom of God today?” Honestly, I didn't feel like I had impacted God’s Kingdom much at all. A lot of days feel like that. Not every day is so mundane, but a lot of them are. A lot of days are what I call “everyday days.” They are ordinary days that are spent doing low impact things. They are days that are spent doing tedious tasks that must be done in order to get through the day. They aren’t Kingdom impacting at all, or at least they don’t seem to be.
Sometimes I feel bad or guilty for having those “everyday days.” I feel like I should be doing more. I feel like I should be giving and doing all of the time. But then I am reminded that even on those “everyday days,” I am still working for the Kingdom of God. In 1 Corinthians Paul writes, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.” So even in the “everyday days,” even in the routine moments, even in the monotonous tasks, I am called to do everything I do for the glory of God. Because those moments become days, and those days become weeks, and those weeks become years, and those years become our lives, and if we are not careful, our lives will be wasted. They will be wasted because we will be waiting on some big, glorious, just-right opportunity to impact the Kingdom of God, and that opportunity will likely never present itself. Instead, we should look for opportunities to bring glory to God and impact his Kingdom in our “everyday days.” We should look to bring him glory in our jobs, in our families, in our conversations, and yes, even while waiting in the carpool line to pick up our kids.
