Holy Ground

Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. --Acts 7:33

Acts 7 is Stephen's narration of the history of Israel just before he was put to death by stoning. The chapter makes interesting reading, but I was looking for something I could apply to my life today. When I read any given chapter in the morning, I like to pick out one or two verses to carry with me through the day, verses that give me a sense of the whole passage, or that especially fit what the Lord has already been teaching me.

I read over the chapter again, and the "holy ground" verse stood out to me. I live life in bare feet as much as possible. I am the first to go barefoot in spring, and the last to give it up in the fall. The thought came to me this morning that everything I do as a full-time wife and mother is to be holy work. It is to be offered up as worship to my Lord as I try to do everything for His honour and glory.

As I went bare foot through my day, hanging clothes on the line, changing diapers, baking bread, wiping noses, reading storybooks, editing something for Tom, giving spelling tests, checking math, supervising chores, and all the rest of it, I kept this thought in my head: "This is holy ground. This is worship. This is for You, Lord Jesus." And anytime I found myself getting impatient or frustrated, I stopped myself by remembering that bad attitudes have no place on holy ground.