“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” // Matthew 16:25-26

A few years ago I was invited to travel with a group of writers to observe the impact of a particular charity group and how it empowers those people it helps.

During my week in El Salvador, I met women and children whose lives had been transformed by the generosity of donors willing to sponsor children and the elderly. I spent my days writing about what I saw and feeling like I was an important part of changing lives. One afternoon, after spending the day observing, we headed back to base camp. I was packed in the back of a pickup truck going down a washed-out mountain road and everyone had to lean together so the truck wouldn’t flip. In the distance was a volcano. 

My life felt amazing and important.

A few days after my return, I was back in my laundry room handling crusty basketball socks and dirty underwear. 

“This,” I said to the Lord, “is not the best use of my gifts.”

I was embarrassed immediately after and instead of feeling reproached, I felt as if God smiled at me. I felt His love and I also knew I had something life-changing to learn. 

In today’s Gospel we hear the importance of giving our lives over to the Lord, as Jesus tells us, “[W]hoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 16:25).”

It’s tempting (and easy!) to want more, to think life is passing us by and there are better and more exciting tasks out there for us to tackle.

But unless we give over every detail of our lives to the Lord, we won’t gain a thing. Is the thing I am doing right now the thing God is asking of me?

If we really want to save our lives—to live a life that feels like something special—then we need to let God into all of it. 

Lord, keep me in the center of Your will for me. And help me see that the thing I’m doing right now can only be truly glamorous when I do it for you.