WORKPRAYER

Hi There !

So,

 "What kind of work do you do?"

Sometimes that's actually a question:

              "Butcher, baker,

               candle stick maker"?

Most times, though, it's a poolside,

a cocktail party conversation starter

             a la Joan Rivers:

             "Can we talk?"

Whatever the question or intent,

the fact of the life is we spend

      a lot of it working.

     "Work We Must,"

just as the Con Ed signage

used to read at work sites

on the streets of New York.

They wrote it right.

Freud wrote right as well.

He said that if you can work

and love you are normal.

Pius XII observed that

       " It's as natural
          for a person
          to work
          as it is
          for a bird
          to fly."

      
Work is natural and  normative.

Annie Dillard tells us that:

       "How we spend
        our days is,
        of course,
        how we spend
        our lives."



According to behavioral scientist,

Andrew Nabor of

The Rand Corporation,

over a lifetime

the average person

spends 90,000 hours working.

That's fully 1/3 of a lifetime.

Work is a fundamental fiber

 in the weave of daily life.

No lesser a light than

my Mother let me

in on that early on.

As a boy I'd occasionally fuss

about doing my chores.

Well, OK, a "little " more than

"occasionally" fuss

to be a bit more honest.

Gently and so clearly

Mom would tell me:

     "Learn to enjoy
      your work because
      you'll be working
      for the rest of your life."





Opps!



Time out.



I've got a little work

to do just now.

Need to water the flowers,

make the bed,

work on another blog posting,

do the dishes,

pay a few bills,

and meet two dear souls

for spiritual direction.

Be back in a bit.

       *****




 Back again and it was

a good bit more

than a "bit.".

Work's done,

well, for now.



You know, the work

I just did was actually

a very holy thing.

     In his Rule,

St. Benedict writes:

 "Laborare est orare."

 "To work is to pray."

   WORKPRAYER

Sure prayer can be at

communal worship,

chanting the psalms,

making The Stations

     of the Cross,

reciting formal words,

quiet intimacy with God,

but so can and is work.

That's because prayer

in one mode or many,

is being with/in

the energy field of Good,

more commonly writ,

       God.

 More exactly,

  prayer is a

    "Yes"

 to the flow

  of Good,

  of God

through us,

and that in

endless streams

of experiences.

At work we are

in the flow of God's

creative romp,

cascading through

time and space.

At work we are

co-creators with

  The Creator.

That's what Benedict

was reminding us.

            Yes.

"To work is to pray,"

 WORKPRAYER

is to be buzzy busy

with Good, with God

as that Divine Energy

takes all sorts of forms

through our shared work:

    - plants are watered

    - children are raised

    - bills are paid

       so the family

       has a place to live,

       food to eat and

       a car to get around

     - clean sheets are

       on the bed

     - conflicts are resolved

     - pipes are laid to get

       fresh water to all

     - instructional  manuals

       are compiled

     - farm fields are harvested

     - contracts are  negotiated

     - poems are penned

     - shoppers are checked out

     - diapers are changed

        ("Thank God!!")

     - courses are taught

     - patients are treated

     - justice is done

     - appliances are repaired

     - stone is sculpted

     - delivery trucks are driven

     - tares are stitched

     - customers are served

      - concerts are organized

      - and of course,

        supper is cooked!

              That's

 "spirituality for the street,"

 for the neighborhood of

 everyday, prayerful living.



Now, work's not always

    easy and smooth.

Sometimes it's downright

     hard and rough.

   WORKPRAYER

     can be a grind.

There's more than a bit of

inertia, chaos and damage

              to be

        "worked out."

"By the sweat of your brow..."
        (Genesis 3:19)

Easy or hard, though,

    WORKPRAYER

   is a labor of Love.

   We are employed

      full time in

The Love Who is God.

      "God is love."

      ( I John 4:8 )

What employment !!

It's not at all primarily

a matter of creating

our own private and

gated financial fortress.

It's so much richer than that.

        In the best sense

        of the term it is

"Workers of the world unite"

 as co-creators with God.

 Join in for the Common Good,

 for the expansion of creation,

for the evolution of endless, well,

         "Goodness.".

 God's on a delightful tare, and

 sure does want our company!



Put a whole other way,

it's like we are

twelve years old

and one day

our Dad asks us

to go to work with him,

telling us we'd be

a big help on the job.

How good (God) is that!!!



Behind the wheel or plow,

in the shop or office,

at the stove or the computer,

wherever and always ,

"Let's get to work."

         because

"Laborare est orare."

  WORKPRAYER



All the best as we

work/pray it forward.

Holding each

and all in

God's Dear

Creative Love,

       John Frank


         *****

A hearty welcome

to our newest participants.

There have been so many

of you this past week.

Thanks for welcoming us

to your WorkPrayer site!!

If you can spare five minutes,

please run eyes, mind

     and spirit over

Consider Your Source

    (right column)

It'll give an orientation to our

  weekly soul huddle here.

              Thanks !

               *****



     "frankly speaking"

                is

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