OUR DAILY BREAD : THE DAILY GRIND

[cimi]

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 3


THE DAILY GRIND

READ:
Colossians 3:23
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Whatever you do,
work at it with
all your heart,
as working for
the Lord, not for
human masters.
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The high school I attended required 4 years of Latin instruction. I appreciate the value of that discipline now, but back then it was a grind. Our teacher believed in drill and repetition. "Repetitio est mater studionum," she intoned over us several times a day, which simply means, "Repetition is the mother of learning." "repetitio est absurdum, "we muttered under our breath. "Repetition is absurd."

I realize now that most of life is simply that: repetition__a round of dull, uninspiring, lackluster things we must do again and again. "Repetition is both as ordinary and necessary as bread," said danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. But he went on to say, "It is the bread that satisifies with benediction."

It's a matter of taking up each duty, no matter how mundane, humble, or trivial, and asking God to bless it and put it to his intended purposes. In that way we take the drudgeries of life and turn them into holy work, filled with unseen eternal consequence.

The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins said, "To lift up the hands in prayer gives God glory, but a man with a [pitchfork] in his hand, a woman with a slop pail, give him glory, too. God is so great that all things give Him glory if you mean that they should."

If whatever we do is done for Christ, we'll be amazed at the joy and meaning we'll find in even the most ordinary tasks.

____David Roper

**Remind us, Lord, that You are in the dull and ordinary tasks in a most
extraordinary way. May we do even the smallest tasks for You.
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A willing spirit changes the drudgery of duty into a labor of love.

********************************Today's Bible Reading __ Ephesians 6:5-9*******************************
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and
fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey
Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when
their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will
of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were
serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord
will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they
are slave or free.

9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not
threaten them, since you know that he who is both their
Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism
with him.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Historians say that slaves composed about
one-third of the population of Ephesus. In today's reading Paul
teaches believing slaves and masters how to live in a Christlike way
within the established structures of society. These instructions
called for reciprocal attitudes and applied to both slaves and
masters (v.9). Because of their new relationship with Christ,
believers were accountable to Him as their master, and He would
judge fairly regardless of one's social or economic status. Both
slaves and masters were to treat each other with respect, sincerity,
justice, and fairness (vv. 5-9).