| The Every Day of Life |
Chapter 14 |
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But is there no better way to look at all this dreary work? Is there no heavenly ray that may illumine it? Is it merely idle iteration? Does nothing come out of it all? Is it in any sense working for Christ? If we will answer these questions in the light of New Testament teaching we shall see that there is a sense in which “drudgery” is indeed “ divine.” All this task-work our Father sets for us. This alone will give it grandeur, if we but realize it. “Let us not depreciate earth,” says Lucy Larcome. “ There is no atom in it but is alive and astir in the all-penetrating splendor of God.”
“Lo! Amid the press,
The whirl and hum and pressure of my day,
I hear thy garments sweep, thy seamless dress,
And close beside my work and weariness
Discern thy gracious form, not far away,
But very near, O Lord, to help and bless.”
Besides, this very task-work which to many of us seems so dreary is one of God’s ways of teaching us some of the greatest lessons of life. We are not in this world merely to do the pieces of work, large or small, that are set over against our hand. We are here to grow in strength and beauty of character. And it is not hard to see how this growth may go on continually amid life’s daily toils and cares. If we are diligent careful, faithful, prompt, accurate, energetic, in the doing of the thousand little things of common life, we are building these qualities meanwhile into our soul’s fabric. Thus we are ever learning by doing. There is an unseen spiritual building arising within us continually as we plod on in our unending tasks. Negligence in common duties mars our character. Faithfulness in all work builds beauty into the soul.
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