Taking a Step Back Before Starting Our Work Today

Let's take a step back before starting our work today.

Whether it's just an ordinary day, or a day where we've got a big pile of stuff to do (as discussed last time) sitting there waiting, it's good to hit the reset button of our mind and soul from time to time.

Seen from a natural perspective, such a reset helps us to drive out what may be a myriad of thoughts and concerns accompanying us into the work day. These could be work-related, or personal matters. (And sometimes it's both!)

If we begin the day's labor without taking a step back, we'll be going about our business with a heavy backpack filled with mental, perhaps physical (e.g., if we're not feeling well) weight that could very well be a drag on any progress we hope to make.

Psalm 99 provides a simple way for us to take that step back. It is a simple Psalm of praise.

Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the Lord with gladness Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy. Know ye that the Lord he is God: he made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Go ye into his gates with praise, into his courts with hymns: and give glory to him. Praise ye his name: For the Lord is sweet, his mercy endureth for ever, and his truth to generation and generation.  

In our work, we serve others. These could be our customers, our clients, or perhaps just the whims of a boss. We perform our duties with charity, in consideration of our colleagues, if we work with others; but certainly with charity in consideration of our loved ones who may at times suffer our ill humor or the effects of our exhaustion at the end of a long, hard day's labor.

Psalm 99, in urging us to "sing joyfully to God" reminds us where to place the primary emphasis of our day's labor. We begin, continue, and end all in the Presence of God. That's simple fact. But so often we neglect Him as we go about our business. The busiest day's may find us so preoccupied with the pressing tasks at hand that we never once turn to Him, even with a simply aspiration, briefly mentally uttered in the midst of our work flow.

This highlights the importance of our regular devotions - prayer, meditation, reading Scripture and good spiritual works, study of our religion. Some call these "norms of piety." Whatever we call them, they remain the bedrock of not only our spiritual life, but our work life as well. Without these regular practices, our spiritual life can weaken, even dissipate. And without a vibrant spiritual life, our work suffers in this most important way: we lack the ongoing effort to offer all for the greater glory of God.

While some of us may not have the time first thing each day to spend in a robust spiritual morning routine, it really does help if we can perform at least some of our devotions before beginning the work day. Ideally, though, we can carve out some chunk of time to settle our minds and hearts and be in the Presence of God before the day's business begins.

And if we make it a habit to incorporate reading the Psalms as part of our daily Scriptural reading, all the better. Indeed, that's how Psalm 99 "popped up" the other day. And it only did so as a result of a long-standing habit of reading the Psalms in order. You can do this by just reading one per day. If a Psalm is on the longish side, you can just split it up - some one day, the balance the next. 

(Recall our recent series on the longest of Psalms - 118 - where we read a verse or verses each day for string of days.)

With this habit, Psalm 99 will pop up some day and perhaps grab your attention as it did mine. It's a simple, even bouyant prayer that lifts us out of what for most of us will be a rather humdrum string of days - the lot of most of us who work in ordinary jobs for a living. Psalm 99 - and many other Psalms - can wake us up with a kind of friendly spiritual slap in the face - a perfect way to take a step back before starting our work today.