Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like the stars in the universe. (Philippians 2:14-15)

Procrastinating the next set  in my Monday morning exercise routine, I looked out the window into a crystal blue sky. Suddenly a brilliant flash grabbed my attention. It wasn’t a star, but a bird! This bird in flight actually appeared to sparkle against the backdrop of a clear, blue daytime sky. The phrase from Philippians 2:15 about “shining like the stars” came to mind.

I’ve often focused on “without complaining or arguing” in that verse (as is fitting given my slight bend toward impatience.) Today the words that hit me were, “Do everything.” It doesn’t say, “Do grand things.” It doesn’t say, “Do important things.” God’s Word tells us, “Do everything” in a way that He can use to make us shine like the stars.

That bird wasn’t becoming President, curing cancer, preaching a great sermon or doing anything else spectacular. It was doing what birds were made to do — fly. How ordinary. It was our extraordinary God Who had ordained the sun’s exact position, the trajectory and timing of my glance and the complete lack of clouds to obscure my vision.

God doesn’t necessarily ask us to do spectacular things either. Maybe if we just do the ordinary things He made us to do and then rely on Him to orchestrate surrounding variables, we will shine like the stars, too. By the way, that bird wasn’t creating light, just reflecting it. God doesn’t ask us to glow with our own glory, but to reflect His. Now, if God can make that bird sparkle against a brilliant, daytime sky, how much more can He cause us who are made in His image to radiate His glory against the backdrop of a dark world?

What has God made you to do?

And what ordinary thing is God asking you to do in a way that He can use to shine His glory?