Singing While You Save the Earth

Continued from page 1

St. Anthony is cited as starting the monastic way of life in AD 270. He sold his belongings, gave the money to the poor, lived alone, read the Bible, and did manual labor. He did this in order to grow spiritually. When I hang the laundry, I make it a spiritual event. I pray, talk to God, and sing gospel songs. I pair a minor physical task that requires little thinking with a dialogue with the Creator of the universe. I may occasionally resent hanging laundry, but how can I regret time spent with God? The same goes for shoveling snow, hand-washing dishes, chopping vegetables, or biking to the post office.

All honest work can be done for the glory of God. As time passes and we grow in our understanding of God and the uniqueness of this planet, we reject more and more "laborsaving" machines. There is an old saying: If you are troubled, chop wood and carry water. This is wise advice. If you pray at the same time, so much the better. Begin to build an hour of work into your daily life. The result will be more life in your day. The flip side of work is rest. God commands all of us to take a day of rest each week, but how many of us take his advice? Imagine you’re at work on a busy day. You haven’t had a break all morning, and then your boss walks up and says, "I want you to take off the rest of the day."

"Are you sure?" you reply. "It’s pretty busy. Have you got someone to take my place?" you ask hesitantly.

"Don’t worry," the boss answers. "I’ll cover things for you."

"Are you sure?" you ask. "Because I can stay a while."

"No," the boss says, "I just want you to take the day off and relax."

"Wow, thanks," you reply.

You gather up your things and hurry out. As you exit the door, your boss calls to you. You knew this was too good to be true. "Just one more thing," he says.

You turn and reply, "What?"

"I want you to know that it’s not just today I’m talking about. I want you to take this day off every week. There’s only one condition," he adds.

Your stomach tenses. "What?" you query.

"I’ll give you this day off permanently. Just promise me you won’t work, not even around your house. Okay?"

You take a full nanosecond to think this through. "No problem! You’ve got a deal!" you shout as you head home to relax.

How many of us have a boss this generous? How many would turn down such an offer? We may not have a CEO this considerate, but our God is.