Another snowy night meant another early morning start to the work day.  As I cleared the walks, it was as if I was working in a snow globe.  The snowfall was such fine snowflake crystals that they sparkled in the light as they fell.  As I worked my way down the sidewalks and around the building, the entire parking lot was a sparkling beauty under the lights.  After the first pass on the walks I did the inside cleaning then went back out for a final pass before the students began arriving for the day.  Then it was time to work inside setting up the replacement office computer and installing the necessary software.

With the extreme cold moderating a bit, the cardinals began playing outside my office window even before daybreak.  They were joined throughout the day by various songbirds, woodpeckers, and squirrels.  The squirrels have discovered the bird feeders that were put out by one of the teachers and they go to great extremes to help themselves to free food.  As I watched the squirrels, I began to think of all the effort we put into getting something for free because it appears to be easier than working for it.  The berries and food sources that had been supplying the birds and squirrels are still obvious along the tree line but there seems to be something alluring about these hanging bird feeders.

In recent weeks we have watched people buy into a lottery system with hopes of winning a record payout amount.  For some, it’s a game.  For others, money they didn’t have was spent on a chance to have an easier life without having to work for it.  I believe that God wants us to be responsible with every resource that He allows into our hands.  God is not only our creator, He is the creator of work.  God understands that when we do whatever work that is before us as if doing it directly for Him, we find satisfaction and fulfillment in accomplishing a noble task.  Often the problem, I know it has been for me at times, is in seeing some of the work tasks we are faced with as having anything to do with God.  We tend to forget that the way we work, the way we treat one another — even the “least” of our brethren — is the way that we treat Jesus.

I pray that you and I would seek out the good works God created in advance for us to do rather than being drawn in to the misguided allure of easy money and get rich quick schemes.  Shoveling snow is not a glamorous task, but when done for the glory of God it is much easier to see His beauty that sparkles like diamonds.