Soul at Work: Finding God in our Daily Work

Our topic will be about finding God (or maybe our sense of the absence of God) in our daily work—whether that’s working at a computer, with your hands, in an office, at home, or in the community. What is our sense of God in our day-to-day lives?

Back in the day, Martin Luther had a lot of great things to say in his day about finding God in our daily work.

In his time, people thought that the highest holy calling was to become a monk, nun, priest, or some kind of religious professional. Luther, who himself left the monastery and later married and had kids of his own, argued that every one has a calling—and that our daily work is a holy calling from God.

Check this out. He said:

“If you are a craftsman you will find the Bible placed in your workshop, in your hands, in your heart; it teaches and preaches how you ought to treat your neighbor. Only look at your tools, your needle, your thimble, your beer barrel, your articles of trade, your scales, your measures, and you will find this saying written on them. …”My dear, use me toward your neighbor, as you would want him to act toward you with that which is his.”

And I love this:

“When our natural reason…takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, ‘Alas, I must rock the baby, wash the diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries,…and on top of that care for my wife, provide for her, labor at my trade…. What then does the Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels.”

So, a couple questions to get us talking:

• Do you have a sense of God in your daily work, whatever that is?

• Does God seem more present or absent in your day-to-day?

• Does your daily work have a spiritual connection for you? How? Why?