LIVING

WHOLE HEARTED LIVING

 

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave,

where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge

nor wisdom" (Ecclesiastes 9:10, NIV).

 

Over the doorway of every class room in my grade school was a motto that,

if adhered to, would stand us in good stead for the rest of our lives.

Pity we don't teach such principles much these days.

 

My school was a secular school in a secular society but the powers that be had

no qualms about quoting the Bible for the good of all. The motto that I remember most

was our Scripture verse for today from the Old Testament: "Whatever your hand finds to do,

do it with all your might."

 

As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "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 and say, here lived a great street sweeper who

did his job well."

 

And as Lou Holtz put it, "Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines

what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."

 

Amen to that, and like all the principles found in God's Word, the Bible, they are eternal and,

when adhered to, are designed to make us better people, better family members, better citizens,

and better at helping to make our world a better place in which to live. 

 

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for the ability to do things and get things done…

whatever my lot is help me to do all to the best of my ability, for the better of my life

and family and for the world in which I live… and most of all, for your glory.

Gratefully in Jesus' name. Amen."