This Psalm Lit Up My Work Day Last Week

We've been talking about being spiritually grounded as we go about our work day. Here's a Psalm that not only helped keep me spiritually grounded, but lit up my work day last week.

If you're not reading the Psalms every day, maybe this will help motivate you to begin doing so.

Years ago, I started reading the Psalms - approximately one a day. (Some are long enough to break up into several days.) It took quite a while before I was able to connect my daily Psalm with my work. I think I was reading too fast and not really concentrating on the text. You know, just trying to "get it done" along with a host of other pious practices like prayer, meditation, study, reading spiritual works before work began.

In time, I learned not to jam too much into the time I had set aside each morning. It was that or find more time. More time wasn't an option. Finally, with some mental discipline, the words started to not only sink in but also to connect - from time to time - with that day's work. Not always, but enough.

Lately, I've been praying the Divine Office each day. If you know and/or pray the Office, you know the Psalms are a big part in each of Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, None, Vespers, Compline. Since the Psalms play a big part in the Office, I've found the Psalms connecting a bit more with work. 

With that as background, here's how Psalm 39 - part of Terce on Tuesday - lit up my work day.

The day began with the intention to keep God front and center as best I could. It would be tough, especially as the morning was pretty packed with items that needed full attention. So before I opened the work day floodgates, I made a special effort to tell Our Lord I wanted to stick with Him no matter how engrossed I became in my tasks (frankly something I really should be doing every day). With my intention fresh on my mind, I prayed Terce in the Divine Office, where the first line of Psalm 39 leapt out:

With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me.

Our Lord wasted no time responding to my intention!

And since I was feeling a bit down that morning (for various reasons), what came next really connected with my emotional state:

And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs.
And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps.

So He not only responded, but He knew just how I felt and directed His response in a manner that not only let me know that, but then proceeded to lift my spirits:   

And he put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God.

Having shaken off the blues with His help, I was prepared to take in the lessons He now offered:

Many shall see, and shall fear: and they shall hope in the Lord. Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord; and who hath not had regard to vanities, and lying follies.  

Yes! Count me with the many who hope. And know that I'm blessed to have placed my Trust in Him, rather than myself, which will only feed my vanity, and lead me to be immersed in this world with its "lying follies." My work will thus serve God's greater glory rather than my own. I'm not working for greater gain or whatever else this world has to offer.

Once we place our hope trust in God, see how He will respond to us in marvelous ways:

Thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, O Lord my God: and in thy thoughts there is no one like to thee. I have declared and I have spoken they are multiplied above number. Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire: but thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt offering and sin offering thou didst not require: then said I, Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will: O my God, I have desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart.

Seek to know His Will, primarily by keeping His Commandments. Expand the day's work beyond its practical utility into one of your most important spiritual practices for the day. We've talked about how our work done with exactness and fervor, can be one of our most powerful prayers. As we attend to each task in the right spirit, He will know our intention and be pleased with our daily labor.

More next time...