As I write this out my window, I see Jesus, the gardener busy at work. He is pruning a rose bush and is completely absorbed in his labor. I wonder. What if in the midst of his labors, someone came along and said to him, "Come, follow me!"

What would it take to get him to drop his shears and follow?

 

So in today,s Gospel, fishermen were busy aout their everyday chores when Jesus was passing by and we are told, they "dropped their nets and followed him!"

Jesus entered into their workspace and encountered them in the midst of their normal days work. 

And they made a U trurn with their lives.

Jesus is passing by today and he encounters us as well. He does not so much call us away from our chores as he enters into our work place. And with him present, our work can never be the same.

Greg Pierce writes this about the spirituality of work: "The Spirituality of Work is a disiplined attempt to align ourselves and environment with God and incardinate God's Spirit ...to make our world a better place..."

Jesus is still passing by, but he does not call us to drop our tools and go off to a monastery; God bless those who do. But rather Jesus calls us to let him be with us in our work.

Jesus, our gardener, out there trimming the rose bushes is making our world, right outside my window a better place. He does so with diligence and skill. And when my neighbor Shirley came home from the hospital, on her doorstep she dscovered a poinsetta placed there by Jesus, the gardener.

My grandfather weighed cattle at the Omaha Stock Yards,  and after his death, it was written: "He could always be depended on to give an honest weight."

This gesture being even more beautiful than the rose bush in its glory.

That is bringing Jesus into the work place. Whether it is Jesus out with the rose bushes, or my grandfather at the stock yard scales, or you at your desk, or at your sink....Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.

And he calls to you.

"Let me in. Let me be with you. Let us make this world of yours a better and more beautiful place!"

Breakfast Question...How important is beauty in our lives?

Personal Reflection: How do I bring beauty to those in my daily life?