Most of us spend a great deal of our time working or at work.  If we are not working to make a living, we still work in the house and in the yard.  Even in the things that might be considered play, we are still working at them.  We work at relationships and we work at maintaining our health.  Face it we work.

    Though we spend so much time working, it is possible to worship at the same time.  So what might that look like?  The scripture tells us to do everything “as unto the Lord” and when I consider that statement, everything we do fits into the category of worship. When we do things as for the Lord, we are in fact worshiping him. Work is very much a part of the rhythm of our daily lives and it presents us with an opportunity to spend time with God.  In his little book, Practicing the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection shares that it is possible to notice and experience this presence while working.  Even in the mundane work in the kitchen, brother Lawrence was able to acknowledge God.  In all that he did, he was able to cultivate this way of worship.

     As we spend more time in God’s presence our relationship with him deepens.  As it deepens we become more grateful, we recognize his grace and his love, and we give praise.   To cultivate work as worship we just need to be able to recognize, acknowledge, and include God in all that we are doing.  We need to use the talents, abilities, and bodies that he has given us all yielded unto him.

     Though this may sound simple, it is not that easy.  We get busy, we get into such a routine that work becomes all consuming and we are not able to step back and realize that we are his.  It requires of us at first small steps of acknowledgment that we are his and that he is with us in our work.  It requires time spent talking to him throughout our work day and an openness on our part to be used as he sees fit.  Mostly, it is in our yieldings and openness to his desires that we find ourselves truly worshiping him not only at work but in everything.

     How is it that your work is worhip?  What steps do you take to make it so?

Picture: Working Women of Moulovi Bazar, Sylhet-Bangladesh, by Silver Surfer -(Ariful H

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