| The Best Things in Life |
Chapter 8 |
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We think of certain acts as worship, and as we enter upon them we hear a voice saying, “Take off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” But where is God not present? Where shall we go any common day that it is not holy ground? There may be no burning bush, but God is there as really as he was when Moses came suddenly upon the symbol of his presence in the desert. We believe that we are doing good work when we are teaching a Sunday school class; are those doing God’s work any less truly who on weekdays teach classes of little children or young people in public or private schools? We consider it a most sacred duty to sit down at the Lord’s Table, at the service of the Holy Communion; but have you ever thought that there is also a sacredness scarcely less holy in sitting down together at our family meals? In the ideal religion, the bells on the horses’ bridles are holy unto the Lord, as well as the high priest’s garments; and the pots used in the people’s houses are as sacred as the vessels used in the temple.
When we learn this lesson, Christian life will have its true meaning and glory for us. Nothing will then appear common place. We never think of our occupation as lowly, for the lowliest work, if it be God’s will for us for the hour, will be heavenly in its splendour, because it is what we are set by our Master to do. Our God is not only the God of the sanctuary and the solemn worship – he is just as much the God of the workshop – the factory, the sewing room, and the kitchen. We please him just as well when we live sweetly, and do our work faithfully in the lowly place, amid temptation, care, and weariness, as we do when we honour and worship him at the communion.
We think we are in this world to attend to a certain business, to perform certain professional duties, to look after certain household affairs, to be a carpenter, a stonemason, a painter, a teacher, a housekeeper – we call these our vocations. But as God thinks of us we are in these occupations to grow into noble and worthy character. While we are making things, God is making men. With him a carpenter shop is not merely a place for making doors, sashes, and banisters, and to plane boards – it is a place to build character, to make men. A home is not merely a place for doing beautiful housekeeping – it is a place to develop fine womanhood.
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