Relevant routine

Every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor — it is the gift of God. — Ecclesiastes 3:13

Here we are at the beginning of a new week. For many people, Monday represents the start of another monotonous cycle of work. Maybe it’s a mountain of washing and ironing, an endless quota of parts from a machine, the same dull routine on the assembly line, or the tedium of sitting at a computer.

Monotony can be a breeding ground for envy and discontent, or it can be the training ground for the development of character and a life of service. It all depends on whether we can see God in the ordinary duties of life.

There was a woman in Boston who for 40 years did the same cleaning tasks in the same office building. She was interviewed by a reporter who asked her how she could stand the monotony of doing the same thing day in and day out. The woman said, "I don’t get bored. I use cleaning materials that God made. I clean objects that belong to people God made, and I make life more comfortable for them. My mop is the hand of God!"

Are you looking for the Creator in your occupation? He’s there. He uses the hands, bodies, and minds of people who accept their tasks and do their work for Him. Any routine task is relevant to God’s work in and through us — for time and for eternity. — Dennis De Haan

If over and over God deigns to work,
Why should we faint, one duty shirk?
So over and over our tasks we do,
Sure of reward, if our work be true. — Anon.

READ: Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

If you want to leave footprints in the sands of time, wear work shoes.

The Bible in one year:

• 2 Samuel 16-18

• Luke 17:20-37