Trusting V. Pleasing.

As I went to wash the breakfast dishes this morning(much too late, as it was almost 10:00 am, and I had been lazy), I started listening to this album by Rebecca St. James that I have been listening to for the past 10 years.

The second song was titled "Everything I Do," and I immediately began to sing along to it, knowing every word by heart. But after a minute or so, I really started thinking about the words I was singing.

Everything I do let it be in your name
Let it be for your glory let it be for you
Everything I say let it be in your name
Let it be to your glory let it be for your sake
Cuz I wanna please you in everything I do

And that last line really caught my attention. Of course I want everything I do to be in His name, to be for His glory, to be for His sake, and to point to him. But is my ultimate goal in life to please God? Do I spend my time wondering whether a certain action, spoken word, or thought, is pleasing to God?

Well, what if I did? Wouldn't this be a good thing? Shouldn't I be trying to please God through my actions, words, and thoughts? Well at first, that what you would think, but I recently read a really sage piece of advice on this.

"Choosing to please God sounds right at first, but it so often leads to a performing life, a girl trying to become good, a lean-on-myself theology. If I am trying to please God, it is difficult to trust God. But when I trust God, pleasing Him is automatic."   -Emily P. Freeman

That last bit completely blew me away. I could so relate to that idea of in trying to please God, having difficulty trusting him. And I can also see that in the story of Mary and Martha. Martha's motives were not wrong, she was merely trying to please Jesus and do something for him in making him a meal. But Mary just chose to trust Jesus, to not try to necessarily do anything. And in trusting him, she automatically pleased him with her actions.   

So while I really do want everything I do to be for Him, I now know that the best way to accomplish that is not in trying to please Him, but rather in simply trusting Him, and letting the pleasing part of it come later.