Morning prayer · 11 September

You were a carpenter

A simple wooden workbench with a half-made chair, a carpenter's plane resting mid-stroke on a curl of wood, sunlight falling across the sawdust as if the ordinary task itself is being watched over.

Lord Jesus, help me understand that you’re working out a plan in the routine of my daily life. There’s a kind of training that even almighty God won’t give without the help of ordinary, everyday things. I get tired of the treadmill, and I complain about being tied to dull and grubby work. But you were a carpenter! For many tiring years, Master, you went to your daily work and never let up. Your dear hands grew hard and your shoulders bent from a workman’s toil. So in all my work, help me see your will, the Master and Planner of my life, and do everything humbly, faithfully and well. Amen.

Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

Luke 16:10 (BSB)

Adapted from Lucy Rider Meyer, Some Little Prayers (1907), in plain words. The verse is from the Berean Standard Bible (public domain). Drawing: Mutter.