If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Whatever you do in life, strive for excellence. There is more joy and satisfaction in uncompromising effort performing the most menial tasks than there will ever be with "easy money".
Be thankful for a job. If you are fortunate enough to volunteer or give to your community- be thankful to be in a position to help. Express your gratitude by doing the job well.
Pray to God that every day you will be just a bit better at what you do than you were the day before. Then help him out by doing your best.
Not every project will be fine art. Some will be craft. Whatever it is, be appropriate for the occasion.
Image of slot canyon by Gene Sasse. Used with permission
Lydia,
ReplyDeleteThat was lovely.
It reminded me of the days when I was raising my four little boys. Mostly alone as John was at his job most of the time. I ran out of patience often and yelled a lot! Each night I would pray to God to give me strength, wisdom and especially patience and most importantly, ask him to help me be a better mother the next day.
Well, don't know if it worked because into the first hour in the morning I would be yelling again! :(
I suppose that I did the best dang job I could in raising those boys because they did turn out to be fine young men. They love their mommy dearly and dad too. This was a feminine gal who was an only child raised mostly in all girl boarding schools!! lol
I do thank the Lord all the time for my wonderful husband who has made it possible for me to be a stay at home mom and also to be able to be a volunteer and give to my community.
Thanks for this lovely post.
XO Trisha
Well hello Lydia dear,
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to bump into each other in blog world. I loved hearing from you and I am inspired by the Martin Luther King quote. Thank you.
Lydia, I love California too. I'm a 4th generation lover of the state, but that doesn't stop me from adoring my half-time adopted state of Maine. When we bought our property a good friend of mine who is also a writer told me that Maine will broaden my perspective, which it has.
Sending fond wishes from Maine to a Southern California girl,
Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island
Dear Trisha- Your sense of humor came through in what you wrote. I've always said God made off-spring babies before they were teenagers so we would get attached before they got "normal"
ReplyDeleteDear Sharon Lovejoy, You are right about travel broadening the perspective. As does writing. There is no way to do either and not learn something new.
Blessings