These were the words I asked my husband as we ended the week on Friday and moved into the weekend. Does my job even matter? Am I doing anything that has eternal value? Is it just a waste? I was questioning everything I was doing.

Cliff paused before he answered …. we are a family that rarely pauses. And then he said “Think about it, most people do jobs that are pretty mundane in the big scheme of things. But somehow, like Brother Lawrence, it really does matter.”

Brother Lawrence was a man who lived in the 1600’s. He had a profound experience with God at a young age (18 years) and ended up working in a kitchen in a monastery for most of his life. If we are honest, most of us would be shaking our heads over this job, saying “If only you had done better in high school you could have done something that really mattered”. That wasn’t the attitude of Brother Lawrence. He saw God in every act of service. He saw God in everything he did, whether serving tables or washing dishes. Brother Lawrence wanted to live “as constantly in His presence“. In the noise of a busy kitchen with pans banging and people bustling, he said this: “The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were on my knees.” Because of this, he was often sought out by people for his wisdom and his ability to guide people in truth.

Does it matter? When the alarm clock rings at quarter to six and we get up to complete the mundane tasks of life, groggy and wishing for more warmth, light, and sleep?

Does it matter? When we move forward in a job that, eternally speaking, seems to make no difference?

Does it matter?  That most of us, no matter how much we would like, won’t change some of the wrongs we see, even though we pray desperately and seek to live faithfully?

Does it matter? That our impact may be small and struggling? That our greatest ability is a drop in the bucket of life?

As I move from a Friday contemplation to a Monday reality, I know somehow in the big scheme of things, it matters. How we interact, whether in our homes or at our jobs, it matters.  How we treat other co-workers, whether we do our jobs with gratefulness or complaint, whether we just wait for the day we can retire or make every day count, it matters. Electricians, garbage collectors, waiters, mortgage processors, mail folks, advocates, case workers, kitchen staff, and baristas…..it all somehow matters. Because no matter what “it” is, we can, as Brother Lawrence says “make it our business to persevere in His holy presence”. 

I drove away from my mind everything capable of spoiling the sense of the presence of God…. I just make it my business to persevere in His holy presence… My soul has had an habitual, silent, secret conversation with God.