OK. Stop preparations for going out to work. The shower drain is full of hair again.
It is not that I don’t want to do it. Actually, like any work, it has a sense of reward attached to it. At the end of the job, something has been accomplished. It may be small in the grand scheme of the activities of one’s life, but it nevertheless is a good job done.
In Ecclesiastes Solomon writes that every activity is vanity, saying: “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”
At the end of it all he concludes:
The end of the whole matter let us hear: --`Fear God, and keep His commands, for this is the whole of man. For every work doth God bring into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether good or bad.' (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 YLT)
God has attached even in this age a sense of reward to the little things that we do, if we do them from the perspective that St. Paul admonishes us:
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:23-24)
In Christ we receive the reward even before we do anything. Christ and the new life that He gives is our reward. This reward, that He has earned for us, changes us from the inside out. As we grow in understanding this, it is manifested in the things that we think, say, and do. More and more God shows us His faithfulness as the Holy Spirit works within us to show us the sanctification that is given to us in our Baptism. He works tirelessly to make known to us who we are in Christ, who we are in accord with His holy declaration in our Baptism in connection with the faith that is poured out to us with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to dwell in us all the rest of our days.
According to our own efforts, all that we do is vanity and a vexation of spirit. According to even our best efforts, all that we do is a demonstration of futility. Yet in Christ, our futility is turned to everlasting glory. In Christ we are judged to be holy and righteous children of God. In Christ every act is counted as holy.
But we only enjoy this presently as we heed the urgings of the Holy Spirit and do what He urges. How blessed we are to be able to do all things as unto the Lord! This is a blessing and joy only known by the saints.
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