God has blessed us with our daily work, which changes throughout our lives; it is not only our professional work, but the work of our hands and hearts in countless ways. It is said that the work of a child is play, because that is how they learn about the world. Perhaps, in adulthood, we come to understand that the work of our hands and hearts is really something of an art form. There is nothing ‘ordinary’ about our ‘daily work’.
The more we treat life as an art form in all we say and do, the more wondrous it becomes. We come to see that all the small details matter…our attitude, our smile, the words that come out of our mouths and into the wide open world. The world is exactly that…wide open. Our encounter with that world has so much to do with what we bring into it. Do we bring love? Do we bring thanksgiving? Do we bring the spirit of Christmas to our days upon the earth?
Yesterday, I caught a glimpse of a spider web shimmering in the early morning light. It was so very beautiful. A spider works hard to build his fragile monument of beauty. Mother Nature can snatch it away in an instant. A spider may have to build his web over and over, day after day…spinning his silken thread tirelessly.
It is the same with a bird who works with such intensity to build a nest. Twig by twig, a house is built. Another bird may one day occupy it. A storm could take it down. It makes no difference to the birds…They simply work with their beaks until the job is done.
Twig by twig, we build our lives. Every twig matters. God blesses the work of our hands and hearts; monuments of love rise up before our eyes.
Friendships are built with kindness and compassion. Marriages are built with trust and determination. Families are built with commitment and faith. Of course, love is the main ingredient in all of the above, but it also takes a tremendous amount of daily work…daily patience, daily practice, daily forgiveness. Like children, we learn as we go. We make mistakes. We start over. Every day is a brand new beginning…Thank God for that!
The truth is, it takes ‘daily work’ for any relationship to thrive. It takes ‘daily work’ to accomplish much of anything at all in life. God has supplied with a great many twigs, and He expects us to use them as creatively as we can. We must be passionate about how we weave those silken strands of our days. We must be passionate about each and every twig…even the ones that appear less than perfect. In God’s economy, nothing is wasted.
I think we tend to undervalue the sheer volume of what is accomplished each and every day of our lives. When we share pieces of our hearts and lives, God’s bread basket multiplies. Even the smallest crumbs of kindness can change someone’s ordinary day to extraordinary.
Like that shimmering spider web, our good deeds glisten in the light of God’s love. Life may be fragile here upon the earth, but God is the giver of life, and life everlasting as well. Nothing escapes His vision, and He blesses everything we do with HIs light.
The creatures of the earth remind us that our daily work matters. Our twigs of love build beautiful things. Our lives shimmer as we spin our hopes and dreams day by day, offering the best we can to God each and every day.
There is an art to living well, and it begins anew each morning. The impressionist painters knew the value of light in creating a masterpiece. We need for God’s light to be our canvas each day…then, and only then, will a composite of beauty emerge. Only God can dispel the darkness. Only God can overcome the shadows.
There will always be problems in the world, and in our lives. Still, the light of God’s love will dazzle the senses every time! His daily miracles transcend our difficulties. Spiders and birds must overcome many obstacles, and yet, they keep building, keep going, keep doing. Should we not rise each morning, confident that we have enough ‘twigs’ and ‘silken threads’ to make beautiful things as well?
In the heavenly places, a nest awaits, built by God Himself, Holy, and bound together with the purest love. In heaven, everything shimmers; may that shimmering light sustain us all our days, and may it inspire us in our daily living.
The sun rises in the morning; we collect our twigs, and small sticks, knowing that the house we build, we do not build alone. God sees the masterpiece, blesses the light therein, and the work continues…
“Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” : Psalm 127:1
“In the heavenly places a nest awaits”, what a precious thought!
We are so blessed! 1 Corinthians 2:9: But as scripture says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those that love Him.”
I couldn’t agree more! We do accomplish so much in each of our days, but sometimes we don’t see it. God’s light illuminates everything!
We must endlessly focus upon His light…that is where life is, that is where our hope is. Were it not for His light, we would surely be discouraged. It is true what scripture says, ‘God makes all things possible.’ (Matthew 19:26)
These are words to live by: “The more we treat life as an art form in all we say and do, the more wondrous it becomes.” Next week, Canada will celebrate Thanksgiving. Your reflection reminds me to be ever thankful.
There is so much to be thankful for! Happy Thanksgiving! I wish you blessings…
Thank you for this gift of a reflection. I take it to heart.
🙂 🙂 🙂
I love the thought of my life being an art form!
Yes! It is a work of art, beautiful in so many ways! And, it is one of a kind…Each day, you grow and change, but there is only one you. You cannot possibly imagine the impact that has upon the universe. There will never be another one like you; your impact upon the world is unique. How incredible is that?
I like your analogy of nests and webs, of patience and resilience … of the impact of any kindness or unkindness … everything we think do and say has a ripple effect! Lovely post thanks Linda 🙂
The ripple effect is certainly true…and we never really know how far-reaching those ripples are. One person smiles and another person smiles back. Who knows? Smiles can be contagious. 🙂
I’m quite sure they are 🙂 🙂 😉
“Every day is a brand new beginning.” I love that reminder! It sounds so basic, but it is so easy to forget! Thank you for giving the smallest things new meaning and value in the everyday stuff of life! And for reminding me not to take God’s good pleasure in each of them for granted!
The little things do mean so much. We think sometimes that grand gestures have the biggest impact. When we look back at our lives, we see how important a hug was at just the right moment, a kind word when we were ‘blue’, the friend who appears out of nowhere when we need them most.
Twig by twig, we build our lives.
So touching and so precious.
God is so good to us! He gives us so many beautiful things… When we watch the birds and how they live, we learn so much. Think of the joy these winged creatures bring us…bird song, their marvelous wings in flight. And yet, they work hard to build their nests and look for food. They must use what is available to them, and they do a marvelous job. (I think sometimes the little twig we are looking for is right in front of us. We miss it because we are looking elsewhere.) As the old saying goes…”The early bird catches the worm.” We must use the sticks and twigs God so graciously offers to us. The little bent sticks or the ones we don’t like so much, might turn out to make a really incredible nest. And, we must always be on the lookout…just like that early morning bird.
What you said about the bent sticks is true; so much of life is constructed upon the imperfect.
Yes! 🙂 🙂 🙂
A well worded perspective Linda. Thanks. In the big picture the smallest of the little things matter, Every twig, even for eternity. We have much to learn from spiders and birds.
God provides the twigs we need each day. He is always there for us, our Heavenly Father. Sometimes, we are not sure of what to do with all the twigs at any given time…He helps us with that also. He opens our eyes to see things we never imagined possible. He makes a way in the wilderness of life…(Isaiah 43:18)
I always finish reading your post feeling utterly refreshed. Thank you Linda! This morning I was chewing on Ephesians 5:8-9 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth).” Your words paint a picture of this verse in action.
I am so happy that you shared that verse…it describes so perfectly how we are to live our lives in Christ. When we focus on God’s light, we see things in a new way…we understand that He does ‘make all things new’.(Revelation 21:5)
Loved, “In God’s economy, nothing is wasted.”. We always need that reminder. God’s grip, Linda. -Alan
God is able to take the little scraps and make something beautiful!
I love this post, Linda. And love how you’ve specified that our daily work is much more than just our professions and jobs. We certainly all have daily work of different things that we need to focus on – it’s all important xx
The little things we do make a difference…I know that my own life has been deeply touched by others who do small acts of kindness. 🙂
Nature, morning light, the birds, the spiders–all the little things we do and observe. This is what makes life beautiful and worthwhile. 💙
Yes! There is so much beauty all around us! 🙂
😀