Joyful Duty

In the school environment where I work, there are lots of duties ... hall duty, parking lot duty, lunch duty, lunch detention duty, and the list goes on. It is an assigned time of the day at an assigned place for an assigned person to do an assigned ... duty.

God gave the Levites (the priests) certain duties, and skipping them was not an option. They kept the wicks of the temple lamps trimmed, the lamps filled with oil, they burned sweet incense and the fat of the peace offerings. I don't imagine any resemblance to the grumpy donut man, who drags himself out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to “make the donuts.” No, I see the priests performing their duties in silent yet joyful worship of The One True Jehovah God. Read how 1 Chronicles 23:28, 30 describes them: "Their duty was ... to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord." We must remember this is the same God Who sends us so many opportunities to dutifully serve [and honor] Him by serving one another, and He provides the joy to boot! His joy is available and abundant no matter how distasteful, unplanned, or inconvenient we may consider our tasks. What if we saw each duty as a divine opportunity to share The Father's love, and faced each one with His joy and a smile in the heart and on the face -- sweeping the floor, scrubbing the toilets, filing, washing the car, taking trash to the dump ... whatever! Let's be about life with His Joy -- there's plenty available!