And whatever you do, in word or deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
~Colossians 3:17
It is not only prayer that gives God glory but work. Smiting on an anvil, sawing a beam, whitewashing a wall, driving horses, sweeping, scouring, everything gives God some glory if being in his grace you do it as your duty. To go to communion worthily gives God great glory, but to take food in thankfulness and temperance gives him glory too. To lift up the hands in prayer gives God glory, but a man with a dung fork in his hand, a woman with a slop pail, give him glory too. He is so great that all things give him glory if you mean they should. So then, my brethren, live. ~Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.
Dear Lord, I may not have to smite on an anvil today or whitewash a wall, but I suspect that I might encounter a few slop pails here and there that will need attention. Whatever tasks You give me to do this splendid new day, help me to do them as You did Your own humble duties in the carpenter's shop of Nazareth -- faithfully, lovingly and cheerfully so as to make everything a happy prayer of thanksgiving and glory to our Father. Amen.
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