“The Angelus”, Work, and Worship

The Angelus – Jean-Francois Millet, 1859

 

 

A picture is worth a thousand words, and just like musical expressions of praise, paintings can often inspire us to worship.  One such painting is The Angelus, a beautiful depiction of the inseparable relationship between worship and our daily tasks.

 

 

Max Lucado wrote the following about this particular painting:

 

 

In the painting The Angelus by Jean-Francois Millet two peasants are praying in their field.  A church steeple sits on the horizon, and a light falls from Heaven.  The rays do not fall on the church, however, or on the couple’s bowed heads.  They fall on the wheelbarrrow and the pitchfork at the couple’s feet.  

 

 

God’s eyes fall on the work of our hands.  Our Wednesdays matter to Him as much as our Sundays.  One stay-at-home mom keeps this sign over her kitchen sink: “Divine tasks performed here daily.”  An executive hung this plaque in her office: “My desk is my altar.”  Both are correct.  With God, our work matters as much as our worship.  Indeed, work can be worship.

 

 

What work lies ahead of you today?  Are you facing a mountain of distasteful tasks – paying bills, washing dishes, or wading through an endless sea of e-mails?  Just remember that each moment you spend working can be a beautiful song of praise to the LORD, and that He is glorified in the way we go about our daily routines.

 

 

Let’s give Him our best!