The Brother Lawrence Guide to Joy at Work

Matthew 6:21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

  

No matter how difficult, mundane or boring, your job you can be transformed by God as you do it. Brother Lawrence was a monk in the fifteenth century who was a cook who catered for as many as a hundred people. He developed his life with God in such a way that people came to see him doing the washing up because he did it with the presence of God visibly on him.  Can we do the same thing? Brother Lawrence said you don’t need to be a monk to do it! There are 5 key principles:

 

1.       Seek God’s Presence – Keep short accounts with God, in other words deal with sin as quickly and thoroughly as possible. This is not perfection or being very holy but just saying sorry every time God shows us sin, turning away from sin and accepting forgiveness. If you think you are without sin ask God to reveal your sin to you.

2.       See God’s Presence- We need to see God in every aspect of life. We need to recognise and grow in our appreciation of God even in the most mundane of tasks.

3.       Live in God’s Presence –Absolutely everything we do we need to do as loving or kind acts for God. If we cannot do a particular thing in this way maybe we shouldn’t be doing it. In other words we are being just as spiritual shopping or ironing as praying or reading the Bible and all of these activities are important to God. We must never tire of doing little things for the love of God, for Him it’s not the size or importance of a job that’s of value but our love.

4.       Speak in the Presence of God –Continually offer simple, short prayers to God throughout the day. E.g. I give myself fully to you. I love you. Help me to love you fully. Before a task we might ask God to give us strength and help us to do it with Him. As we continue working ask again for his help. Give thanks after a task is completed for all the good that was accomplished.

5.       Value God’s Presence – We need to value God’s presence above everything else but not for our own pleasure or benefit but because God wants it. Our motive must be love of God. Brother Lawrence writes, “There is no way of life in the world more agreeable or delightful than continual conversation with God; only those who practice and experience it can understand it.”  

  

Father, help us to live close to you every moment of the day.

(The points above are adapted from Exiles –Living Missionally in a Post Christian Culture by Michael Frost chapter 3 who quotes from Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God: With Spiritual Maxims)