godly work

wow, what a long, taxing day @ the office. interestingly, b/c i'm notorious for getting cold feet (a.k.a., "doubt monkeys jumpin' on my big ol' head"), i have done a lot of thinking since renee' and i decided to stay in mississippi one more year prior to going to an episcopal school for my year of anglican studies. my office window looks directly out over st. peter's, my church, and the place that, most days, i'd much rather be laboring. so what the crap am i still doing here?!? but then i remember that when we leave the mass and "go in peace to love and serve the lord," we go to our homes, to our jobs, to our play, and all of it becomes worship when we do it to the glory of god and his kingdom and in service to others. so an office job ain't all that bad when i'm helping to "dispense justice" (if that's really what i do). after all, nothing is required of us except "to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly w/ our god." (micah 6.8).

it was either bart of caleb who told me a few days ago that they had been reading bro. lawrence's the practice of the presence of god, which got me to thinking about a snippet of a poem my friend mary alice wood gave me years ago. you wanna hear it? here it go:

There is no small work unto God.
He required of us greatness;
Of his least creature
A high angelic nature,
Stature superb and bright completeness.
He sets to us no humble duty.
Each act that he would have us do
Is haloed round with strangest beauty;
Terrific deeds and cosmic tasks
Of his plainest child he asks.
When I polish the brazen pan
I hear a creature laugh afar
In the gardens of a star,
And from his burning presence run
Flaming wheels of many a sun.
Whoever makes a thing more bright,
He is an angel of all light.
When I cleanse this earthen floor
My spirit leaps to see
Bright garments trailing over it,
A cleanness made by me.
Purger of all men's thoughts and ways,
With labor do I sound Thy praise,
My work is done for Thee.
Whoever makes a thing more bright,
He is an angel of all light.
Therefore let me spread abroad
The beautiful cleanness of my God.
(from the monk in the kitchen, by anna hempstead branch)

so next time you see that ad on tv that starts by asking "why do we go to work," just think: my work is done for thee. and say a little prayer that i won't forget that's why i go to work, too. christ's peace ~ sam