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, and burned sweet incense. I don't really see any resemblance to the grumpy donut man, who drags himself out to make donuts before sunrise.  No, I see the priests performing their duties in silent yet joyful worship of 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 or task as an 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’s duties – serving joyfully!