Glorious Monotony

Available for over a year

Spiritual reflection to start the day with Ennette C Lainchbury Good morning. These December mornings can be so bleak. My goodness. My Tuesday, 5am commute into work has turned on me from a glorious morning sunrise, mindful moment to this deeply dark dead of night expedition into work. These are the days of the year I find it hardest to find meaning in my work. The job I usually love begins to feel more like an obligation or the necessary evil that pays my bills and upcoming Christmas presents. And yet Paul in Colossians has the audacity to say, “do everything as if you were doing it for the Lord.” Everything. Everything? Surely not the emails I've been putting off, Lord! Surely not this 5 a.m. commute, Lord! Surely not. But here's the thing. Work was part of God's original design. woven into the beauty of creation in Genesis, which forces me to face my own discontentment, the monotony of my days and the relentless repetition. I imagine when God made the world, he didn't think to himself, hmm, what's the bare minimum amount of flowers that I can get away with making? But if I'm honest, that's all too often a thought that creeps into my mind when I think about work. And it's in these moments that I have to try to remember all the ordinary and everyday places God met people: whilst they were minding sheep, fetching water by well, and one of my favourites whilst napping on a rock. Even in my dreary Tuesday morning, God is present with me. I am just all too often unaware. So as we face this new day of work ahead of us, Lord, would you bless it afresh? Remind me again that this commute and indeed this whole day of work is more than a means to an end, but rather holy ground, ripe with the possibility of experiencing your goodness and nearness. Amen.