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)
John Chrysostom, Homilies on Colossians:
"If you are a craftsman, go to your workshop; if you are a merchant, go to your counting-house; and there serve God. For the man who sells in his shop and gives just measure, and cheats no one, serves God in his selling. And the man who sits at the loom and weaves honestly, without mixing inferior thread, is serving God at his loom. You do not need to go to church to serve God -- you may serve Him in your calling, if only you will."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit:
"There is no part of our ordinary life which may not become a sacred thing. If the Lord has called you to a trade, do not think that you can serve Him better by neglecting it. A holy calling is not one that is set apart from the world, but one in which the man brings his Lord into the world with him. The smith at his anvil, the carpenter at his bench, the merchant at his desk -- if they do all as unto the Lord -- are as much ministers of God as those who stand at the altar."
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon on the Mount:
"A good servant does his master's work with a willing heart. He does not eye the clock, nor does he labor only when observed. Such a one knows that God sees in secret, and that no work is small which is done in faithfulness. The measure of a man is not in the greatness of his task but in the devotion he brings to it."
Benedict of Nursia, Rule of St. Benedict:
"Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore, at fixed times, the brothers ought to be occupied in manual labor; at other times, in holy reading. And since we believe that God is present everywhere, let us be careful at all times so to conduct ourselves that His eye may see good in us."
When no one is watching -- when the project is done, the meeting is over, the week is closing -- do you work for the man who signs the check, or for the One who holds your life? The answer is visible in what you do when there is no audience.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, V.1:
"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work -- as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for -- the things I was brought into the world to do?' You were born to do your work. Not to roll over and sleep."
St. Clair, MI: -- Sunny and hot. High 91°F (feels like 96°F). Winds light NW, 3-5 mph. Evening clear, 86°F, winds picking up overnight to 8-18 mph. No precipitation. Humidity moderate through the morning, dropping by afternoon.