Journal of Sacred Work

I began to live as if there was none but He [God] and I in the world. Brother Lawrence (1611-1691)

   In the world of 17th century France, Brother Lawrence developed his personal understanding of what it means to live passionately in the presence of God’s Love. "Is it not quicker and easier," he wrote, "to do our common business for the love of God." What Brother Lawrence writes to us across the centuries is that, whether our work is as grand as a king or as humble as a housekeeper, when we do this work "for the love of God" we thrive in Love’s grace.
   Passion is the fire that warms the Garden of Love. It is passion that feeds our purpose and allows the seed of our potential to blossom. My favorite example of passion is Martin Luther King…

   For decades in America, men and women had sought to free the south from the prison of bigotry and segregation. But it was Dr. King’s massive and eloquent passion which inspired millions to finally break these chains.

   Bigotry may remain, but gone are the laws that enabled it to find expression. There are no more poll taxes, schools and lunch counters are integrated, and people are now provided service regardless of color. It took an enormous burst of passion from a purpose-driven leader to bring all of this to pass over the tumultuous years of 1957-1968, when King was gunned down by an assassin.
   King’s passion inspires us today. But so, also, does the passion of other great spirits: Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill. Virtually every world-changing leader exemplifies a life of deep passion.
   It too a passionate commitment for Dr. Jonas Salk to bring us the polio vaccine. It took another kind of passion for Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky to bring us their great romantic music. And it took still another version of passion for Michelangelo and Picasso to bring us their art.
   Each of these gave expression to the voice of God. Each of these served as avenues for Love’s presence in this world. Without passion, we would know nothing of their world-changing work.

   For Brother Lawrence, every act of life needed to be an expression of God’s Love. There was no difference for him among praying, cooking and washing the dishes. God wasn’t just for Sunday, God was for every moment of the day. Imagine the notion of living in this world like Brother Lawrence as if there were none but you and God in it.
   Imagine that everything boils down to your relationship with Love. How would this change your world and that of those around you? What would you and God do differently than what you are doing now?

-Erie Chapman