How Every Detail of Our Daily Work Can Be Something Beautiful for God

Every detail of our daily work can satisfy God. We've discussed this many times. Let's take another look today. This time we'll focus on the most trivial details of the work day.

Start with showing up at work on time. 

If you're an employee, most businesses expect you'll be in the saddle by a specific time. Pick a time, e.g.,  8:30 AM. If you commute, you could walk in the door or at 8:30 or actually be all set and ready to go. Which is better? I think it's the latter. So better to get in a little early. Make sense?

A lot of us work from home these days. I've had the privilege of doing so for over ten years now. When I started working from home, one of the first "rules" I imposed on myself (I had started up my own business) was a specific start time. No excuses. The clock would strike "Start Time" and I'd be all set and ready to go. I know some folks who take a more flexible approach, I suppose that might work out OK for them. But I preferred holding myself to a strict standard.

Here's a proposition: If you consistently hit your start time working rather than just "showing up" you can take what may seem a trivial matter to some into something beautiful for God. 

"Beautiful"? Yes, I think so. Anything we offer to Our Father in Heaven should be from the heart and should be somehow beautiful. Showing up not quite ready to go isn't beautiful. All set and ready to go is. 

I won't explain why. I think you get the point, right? And, yes "beautiful" isn't an exaggeration. Think about it. We're talking about something you offer to God. Should anything we offer to Him be less than beautiful? If we're on time, ready to go, focusing on that first task with a degree of fervor, determined to address whatever needs doing with exactness, that's beautiful. If we mosey on down to our starting gate, thinking about anything and everything but the task at hand, and grudgingly sort of/kind of do what needs doing, that's not only not beautiful; it's downright ugly. 

Would you even think of offering something like that to Your Father? It's more likely you haven't even thought about making such an offering - at least I would hope you haven't. Maybe you don't think He's watching. But, of course, He is. Maybe you don't think he cares how and when you get your work done. Big mistake. If He's watching - which He is - do You think He'd take the time to look and not take an active interest in what's going on? Does that make any sense?

Here's another quick example from my own work: the need to save important documents in client folders on my company laptop. It's something we do on an ongoing basis. Every month, though, there's a bunch of month-end statements we save. It's there in our written operations procedures for a good reason. And it needs to get done as soon as the statements become available - again, part of our procedures. So within the first week of the month, it gets done. When I had an employee, he did it. I don't have employees now, so I do it. 

It's arguably not something a business owner should spend time on if it can be delegated. But, having no delegee, it can't be. So it's up to me. I used to harrumph and grunt when I started doing this. (Oh how I missed having someone else do this grunt work.) I didn't always save the statements in a timely fashion. Frankly, clients wouldn't know the difference if I was late in saving. But when I recalled that God was watching, I figured I was wasting a chance to do something beautiful for God. 

It's just like starting the day on time. God's watching. He's interested. What did He see - never mind think - when I was harrumphing and grunting when I approached and executed this task in the past?

When you think about it, the idea that God is everywhere and sees everything can have a profound impact on literally everything we think, say, and do. Indeed, I remember being deeply impressed when I was taught this in religion class in Catholic grammar school. At first - in my younger and more innocent days - the thought that God was close by watching over me was pretty comforting. But then, as I got older and, shall we say, less innocent, God's Presence wasn't so welcome. So, as some of us do, I engaged in ongoing mental games that I could somehow "hide" what I was thinking, saying, doing when it wasn't good, clean moral, etc. Irrational to be sure. But I think it's simply (and sadly) our fallen human nature at work. 

Looked at this way, the title of today's post should be "How every detail of our daily work should be something beautiful for God." How it should or must be, not how it can be.

Next time we'll solicit some help from some saints and spiritual writers. Until then, let's at least do something - if not everything - beautiful for God today.