Ora et Labora Part 2

In a recent post I wrote about my visit to a Benedictine Abbey to help the sisters pull weeds. Most of the visit included work, so I gained insights quite different from when I normally go there for personal renewal and prayer.

Benefits of 'Pray and Work'
First, the concept of pray and work is quite powerful when repeated throughout the day. During our before-lunch weed pulling, I was "on a roll" and didn't want to stop. If I had been doing this on my own, and didn't have a scheduled prayer service looming, I would have kept yanking those weeds. Invariably, I would have gone on too long, and missed any prayer time if I were calling the shots. Instead, we all stopped and gathered in the chapel for the service. We then refueled ourselves over lunch before going back to the weeds. Our afternoon session of pulling was quite profitable. We found whole patches of weeds and pulled many more than we had in the morning. The time of prayer, fueling our bodies, and visiting over lunch, all gave us renewed vigor to attack the task at hand.

Time Management
Second, knowing that you have a limited time changes your outlook on your work. You work harder and smarter during the time you DO have. You don't waste the time.

Take Time to Listen and Talk
Third, I noticed that the sisters were able to make you feel like they had all the time in the world to talk while we worked. Although they are very purposeful in their work, they don't rush around in a frenzy, ignoring people who visit the Abbey.

The sisters have the ability to work hard, set aside time to pray and praise God, and give people their time. What a wonderful combination of traits that we would do well to emulate.

I just read this Bible verse, and decided it applied to the sisters, too.

In everything that [Hezekiah] undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.
2 Chronicles 31: 21

(I got the above photo from the Abbey website. It really is beautiful there!)