...and I quote,....

We all have them. Tasks, jobs, duties, yea verily, callings.

So often the thoughts come that "wouldn't it be grand if...." Or perhaps there is a sudden attack of the if-only's. Let's face it, in the grand scheme of things it seems mostly that the task(s) before us each day is/are not world spinning, headline making glamor. We slog, we slump, we might even (oh, heaven forbid) mutter and grumble.

"Frustration is coded into the very structure of fallen Creation." (Romans 8.18-21)

So This Day, a new tactic.


This Day, laundry folding will become sacrament, deadheading perennials,liturgy.

Martin Luther wrote:

"The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God as much as the monk who prays, not because she may sing a hymn as she sweeps,

but because God loves clean floors.

The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes,

but by making good shoes,

because God is interested in good craftsmanship."

There is a sanctity in honest work. There is something in it that pleases not just the eyes of man, but the heart of God.

In the early church there were slaves. The instruction given them when they came to Faith was not to leave, but to be the best, most obedient slaves possible.

"The opposite of a slave is not a free man. It is a worshiper."

The one who turns the work of his hands into an offering of service to the Lord, is the one who blesses, who walks rightly, righteously. He or she is the one, who can pray along with Moses

"Let the beauty and favor and delightfulness of the Lord our God be upon us;

confirm and establish the work of our hands,

yes, the work of our hands, confirm and establish it."

The work of our hands by the alchemy of our devotion, becomes the worship of our hearts.

More than that, work done in such a spirit has the power to reveal Christ Himself.

It is reflective. It not only makes Christ attractive, it makes Christ known.

Today, I shall think 'foot washing'.

The One who designed and created feet, from the dust of the road itself, so to speak, stooped, took a towel and washed them, dirty, cracked men's feet.

And in the washing, ministered.

Unthinkable.

Or maybe: life lesson.

This Day, prayerfully and with thanksgiving I shall attempt to kneed the reality of that truth into the details of my tasks.

(phrases in italics indicate quotes from Mark Buchanan)