Hugh Redwood
Bromley and Kentish Times
Kent, England

The true Christian works, works hard and works well, because he is something more than a worker— he is a craftsman, finding a joy in his work. And not only in so-called religious work. He sees his daily job as his Christian vocation, the means through which he must glorify God; and that transforms and transfigures it, however dull it may seem. ...

"We are labourers together with God," ... working to bring men into their heritage; working like those who first grasped the truth of it; working, "the Lord working with [us], and confirming the word with signs following" (Mark 16:20).

The Roebling Record
Trenton, New Jersey

The man ... who doesn't know the satisfaction that comes with achievement, whose only measure of progress is material, has missed the best life has to offer, and, what is more, he usually fails to get (be very thing he is after. There is nothing more satisfying than to see our ideas transformed into action, to see our dreams take form. There is nothing more gratifying than a job well done with a skill acquired through tireless effort. There is nothing more lasting than the happiness that comes from honest effort. There is nothing more heart-cheering than the sacrifices we make to bring pleasure to others.

Kootenaian
Kaslo, British Columbia, Canada

A group of us were sent on one occasion to the art gallery to see a painting by one of the Dutch masters. We, being inexperienced in the ways of art galleries, were surprised to find the picture was roped off in such a fashion that one could not come close to it, but was forced to stand a fair distance back to view it. Only then could it be seen to advantage. From close up it lost its beauty and its power. From a distance, having proper perspective, the picture was magnificent—even to high school juniors. ...

There is a parable here. For do we not know, every one of us, folks who are doing a job well, but aren't happy about it? Folks whose lives have a beauty and spaciousness, who never know it? ...

Our job is too often a job: we are too close to it to see its helpfulness to others. Our home is just a building—we are too close to see the joy, help, and love we contribute thereto. Our field of service is a series of problems and difficulties; we are too close to see the loveliness or charity or goodness others receive.

Let's step back occasionally and look at ourselves. We'll find faults if we are honest, but we'll find too a good deal of beauty. Let's step back and regard our homes, our families, our church, our jobs, our services to the community. None of them perfect, but in the proper perspective, all of them a great deal lovelier than we ofttimes take them to be.

"The Window Cleaner"
The Evening News
portsmouth, Hampshire, England

There is always a world of difference between merely earning a living and really making the most of life. Yet the fact remains that our daily work occupies a great part of our life. The idle man is never the happy man. When you are tempted to grumble or grouse about your job. look back and think of the miseries of that time in your life when you were unemployed. It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; worry is rust upon the blade. It is not the revolution that destroys the machinery, but the friction. ...

There is nothing slipshod in the handiwork of God, and there must be nothing slipshod about our work. Whatever your trade or profession, do all you have to do heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. Never be a time-server, whose only concern is the wage packet and the five o'clock buzzer. A man's work in life is made or marred by the way he approaches it. A man's life at work is a golden opportunity for serving and helping others.

Helen L. Toner
The Christian Advocate
Chicago, Illinois

George D. Boardman one time said. "Work is God's ordinance as truly as prayer." ... I doubt that any of us could discover happiness without regular work.

But the fact remains that some people's work makes them miserable. Many find no pleasure in their daily tasks, and plod along suffering from a deadly boredom.

What is the difference between a man who farms and feels himself a drudge and one who farms and feels himself a king? Is it not primarily a matter of attitude? The secret of happiness in work lies in thinking of it as a gift from God. ...

Paul, an old man imprisoned in Rome for the second time, wrote a piece of parting advice to young Timothy. Paul's life had been rich and full and satisfying. At the end of it he was able to say with contentment. "I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." To Timothy, in the early years of his labors, Paul wrote out of his own rich experience. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed." ...

Alexander Woollcott used to insist. "There is no menial work; there is only the menial spirit." To one gardener his work is digging in the dirt; to another his work is creating a place of beauty. One ditchdigger cannot look beyond his own calluses; another can visualize the conveniences of gas and water brought to many families because of his unlovely toil. The first leaves his work with a grouch; the second goes home with a glow of satisfaction. It's all in one's point of view.

Lethbridge Herald
AIberta, Canada

Whether we are of high or low estate we can each, in his or her individual capacity, fulfill one of the noblest of missions in the life of the individual—the mission of service. In doing this service in the ministering spirit ... he or she becomes what. Paul in his charge to Timothy calls "the servant of the Lord." What nobler distinction is there than this? "The servant of the Lord," we are told, "must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient."

In the striving for positions of power and authority which men seek it is well to remember, as said by the Psalmist, "that power belongeth unto God." The possession of power brings with it responsibilities to those to whom it is given.

"We have this treasure," as Paul puts it, "in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." Power, with the authority which goes with it, gained or striven for in this spirit, is without reproach.

David E. Seaboldt
Bulletin of pennsylvania state school Directors Association Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

A fundamental need of every person is the need of appreciation. ... It is vitally important, therefore that a person come to an understanding with himself as to what it is for which he desire appreciation and by whom he wants to be appreciated. ...

It is a great day in any person's life when he begins to care for something higher and greater than himself and doesn't care much about who receives the credit for what is accomplished as a result of his labors. For strange as it may at first seem, one does not lose his identity when he ties himself to some great cause; he preserves it eternally. The only way to discover one's real self is to first lose oneself in the service of something greater than self.