To Pray And To Work
As the new year begins, and we leave 2021 behind us, what hopes and fears do we find confronting at the beginning of this year, 2022?
Perhaps it is artificial to consider days and years as we do. In fact, we follow the Gregorian revision of the Julian calendar, which is based on the solar cycles, and not the Jewish calendar, which is based on the lunar cycle. Most of us probably don’t realize that Jews, Muslims, many in Asia and other parts of the world mark time differently from us. As the west has been slowly overtaken by secularism and atheism, the notions of Anno Domino, AD, and BC (before Christ) have receded in place of BCE (before the common era) and CE (the Common era). A lot of people are probably unaware that 2022 is meant to indicate time from the birth of Christ (even if the original formulators were off by a few years!). And of course, there is God’s calendar: the lights in the sky, and the stars, were created in part to mark times and seasons, and who knows when God started marking time!
This all may sound a little academic. At the end of the day, we are each individuals who are, for better or worse, beginning something of a new year. Many of us will celebrate birthdays this year. Some will not make it through this year, and others will be born into the world this year. In psalm 139 we learn that God knows us from before we were born, and that he knows not only the length of our days, but their content as well. He knows even our thoughts before we think them, knows where we go and from whence we come. What the psalmist said elsewhere is also true for each of us, regardless of what our individual life-cycles are: “my times are in your hands!”
And yet, how many of us live as if our days are numbered by God, who will ask us to render an account for their living? How many of us realize that each day is a gift, and that we should make the most of every day to bring glory to God. Do we really live as if our times are in his hands?
In our day, we have an immense temptation to misuse time. There are many distractions from TV to the internet, to gaming, to social media, to movies and news shows, documentaries and sports events, music and comedy- an almost limitless selection of vices to eat away at our rarest and most valuable commodity: time. For others of us, there is work, and more work, and hobbies or training that occupy our days. Perhaps vacations, travels, plans to go here and plans to stay there. Still others live in a world of thoughts- past sins that haunt, ancient wounds that ache, deep afflictions that dominate our subconscious, fears and worries that eat away at our future, grudges, vendettas, seething hurts and musing fantasies. These two consume our days and weeks.
The ancient monks had a motto by which they tried to make the most of their few years of life: ora et labora, prayer and work. In fact, if we look at Jesus’ life, he lived this way as well. He spent time with the Father in prayer- long hours in solitude and in meditation and in communion with God. But he also knew that he had to “work while it is light, for the darkness [was] coming when no man can work”. Like the rhythm of his heart-beat, systole-diastole or the cycles of his breathing, inhaling-exhaling, Jesus’ life oscillated between prayer and work.
How can we follow Jesus, so that our days are meaningful, and temptations are avoided this year? To pray is to listen, then speak. So we must spend time in God’s Word in study and meditation, before we can meaningfully speak to God. The Spirit helps us in our prayers, and as we hear his Word and are moved by his Spirit, we learn how to speak to God, and live in the world. This year, some of you will read the bible through for the first time. Others will learn the discipline of reading the psalms and gospels through each month. Some will read through the Old Testament, others the New Testament. Some will dive deep into books of the Bible, while others memorize large stretches of scripture. As we read God’s word, we learn how to pray, and as we learn how to pray, we learn how to obey. When our obedience begins to take root in our hearts and minds, it begins to work itself out in our lives and actions. Soon, we will discover that our days are no longer frantic or boring, but deepened and meaningful as we pray, and work. May God bless you each this new year with courage to turn away from the temptations to waste time, and fortitude to live each day in gratitude and thankfulness to the God who gives us each day as a gift.
