From her book ‘The Holiness of Everyday Life’, Joan B. Mac Donald wrote:
I LOVE SUNDAYS. I love the rush of getting ready, the bustle of dressing up, my husband making pancakes in the kitchen, my daughters looking radiant, and my sons in ties passing the sacrament. I love organ music, singing loud, and visiting with friends. Most of all. I love listening to, discussing, and thinking about spiritual principles, higher values, and eternal truths. During the sacrament I reflect, evaluate, and reassess. How am I doing? Often, not as well as I’d like. But this week, I promise myself, I’ll do better. I’ve promised to remember the Savior, and this week I will. No matter what, Lord, this week I’ll remember you.
Then comes Monday morning. Monday follows Sunday like the tail on a dog. I keep thinking that someday it won’t, but it always does. And on Monday morning life gets hard. The bustle of getting ready for church on Sunday is like a movie scene in slow motion compared to Monday. Weekly mornings are always chaotic—too many people need to use the bathroom at the same time; do all the kids have their lunch? . . . . Monday morning hits us like a runaway train. I always find that Mondays, by noon or before, I’ve forgotten. I’ve forgotten what seemed so urgent just the day before. I’ve forgotten Christ. I’ve not just forgotten that, somehow I want Him to be Lord of my whole life (not just my Sunday mornings); I’ve forgotten Him altogether. Thoughts of God, Christ, scripture, or church don’t even occur to me. This workaday week is such another world, a world totally other. The pace is other, the priorities are other, what matters and what doesn’t, who matters and who doesn’t, what I need to do and how I need to be while I’m doing it—all are other. It’s as if we go to sleep Sunday and wake up Monday morning in downtown Manhattan. And we wonder: Which world is real?
Which world is most important? Are these two worlds related at all? If so, why do they feel so separate? Why is moving from one to another so jarring? Is it possible to integrate the spirit of Sunday into the world of Monday through Sunday?
How? Given the hectic nature of each day, how do we remember even to try?
For me the question became, Is there someway that work itself can help me to remember? I was thrilled to that the answer is yes—a resounding, even thundering yes! Moreover, I believe that work can be more than a reminder of lessons learned on Sunday; work has lessons of its own to teach. If we allow it, what we learn on Sunday will inform and affect what we learn and do Monday through Saturday. Likewise, what we do and learn Monday through Saturday informs and affects our experiences on Sunday. “The spirit and the body are the soul of man.” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:15.) The Sabbath and the work day, the sacred and secular, are the soul of our lives. Though they often feel separate, different, other, they are not. All things are spiritual to the Lord. If I am to become more like my Heavenly Father, then all things must be spiritual to me also.
Before discussing how work can be more spiritual, I think it would be helpful to look at the nature of work—what it is and what it isn’t. (continued)
~ Joan B. MacDonald, The Holiness of Everyday Life, (Deseret Book, Salt Lake City) 3-4 (continued)
