Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
-- Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV)
Chrysostom, Homily 10 on Colossians:
He desires to have them freed not only from hypocrisy, but also from slothfulness. He has made them instead of slaves free, when they need not the superintendence of their master; for the expression "heartily" means this, with good will, not with a slavish necessity, but with freedom, and of choice.
C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory:
You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.
Augustine, Confessions I.1:
You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.
The restless heart is not a defect to be medicated. It is the homing signal. Every task you lay your hands to today -- every call, every drawing, every difficult conversation -- is either an act of worship or an act of evasion. Augustine knew this. The restless heart will find its rest in God or in distraction. There is no third option.
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ I.1:
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ; and they teach us how far we must imitate His life and character, if we seek true illumination, and deliverance from all blindness of heart. Let it be our most earnest study, therefore, to dwell upon the life of Jesus Christ.
The disciplined life is not about systems and checklists. It is about following. The pattern was set before any productivity method existed. Wake. Follow. Work. Rest. Repeat. The man who imitates Christ does not need to be told how to spend his day -- the direction is already given.
What work did you do yesterday that you would not have done if no one were watching -- and what does that reveal about whom you actually serve?
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations V.1:
In the morning, when you find yourself unwilling to rise, have this thought at hand: I arise to the proper business of man, and shall I repine at setting about that work for which I was born and brought into the world? Am I equipped for nothing but to lie among the bed-clothes and keep warm? "But," you say, "it is more pleasant so." Is pleasure, then, the object of your being, and not action, and the exercise of your powers?
The emperor who ruled the known world did not have the luxury of soft mornings. Neither do you. The work is waiting. Rise to it.
St. Clair, MI -- Wednesday, July 22
Sunny, high near 73°F. Northwest wind 8-12 mph with gusts to 21 mph. Tonight, mostly clear, low around 51°F. A clean day -- no rain, no excuses.