Holy Women

I am currently reading A Conversation with God for Women by Marcia Ford. So far, I'm loving it. The following excerpt from the book seemed to fit perfectly as we enter Lent - the holiest time of the year. This passage is written from God's point of view:

Don't be thrown off by the word holy, by the way. Yes, when it refers to Me, it implies spiritual perfection. When it is applied to my people, it simply means that your life is dedicated to worshipping and serving Me. Unfortunately, your culture has so misused the term that some people think holy women float through life with their palms pressed together in prayer, wearing a dreamy, saintly smile at all times, and thinking and speaking of nothing but Me.

Let me tell you what a holy woman might really look like. She looks like a young mother dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt pushing a cart full of kids and groceries and thinking about her next stop on the list of errands to run. She might look like a divorced, middle-aged woman sitting in a cubicle intently studying a computer screen filled with insurance liability statistics. Or she might look like an exhausted widow scurrying from one table to another at the restaurant where she works, trying to forget the still-raw grief she feels over her husband's sudden death. If My Spirit lives within them, then these are holy women doing holy work. Their lives are still dedicated to worshipping and serving Me, no matter what else they may be engaged in.

I truly love that thought! We can all be considered holy if our lives are dedicated to worshipping and serving the Lord. It's not a status reserved just for the saints. And it doesn't just apply to us when we are at church or in the middle of prayer. Once we accept Jesus into our hearts and dedicate our lives to Him, our holiness will shine through - no matter what we're wearing or what task we may be concentrating on at the time.

Over the next 40 days, as we anticipate the arrival of Easter and spring, I challenge us to remember our holiness. As we go about the busy-ness of our lives, may we be consciously looking for ways to worship and serve the Lord.

“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,” - 2 Timothy 1:9