Three day weekends are a wonderful time to catch up – with mundane tasks like cleaning and laundry, but also delightful ones like gardening and reading. The ancient Roman orator Cicero is credited with saying if you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
That sounds lovely, of course, but we know in the modern world where we don’t have servants or slaves to take care of mundane tasks, we do need a bit more. The house I live in was built around 1910; the third floor was the maid’s quarters. The kitchen and second floor have “calling holes,” where the family could call the maid when needed.
Only the very, very rich have live-in maids now but we all benefit from the many low-wage workers who make our comfortable lives possible, whether they are food service workers, landscapers, or warehouse workers. We should remember them as we sit down with that cup of coffee and a book in our gardens, whether large or small.
Prayer for the Day
God of all blessings, we are thirsty for you;
Needing rivers in the deserts of our hearts,
We search for your grace to well up in us as water from a spring
And we ask for tenderness of heart and strength of soul.
Choose us this day, gentle God, and we shall be chosen.
Fill our hearts with your love so we are your witnesses.
In the name of the One we follow,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
When you think of the amount of turnover and profit made by most companies in this country - and especially the big chains, it's a shame that they pay their employees minimum wage and no more than that.
- Christina Engela, South African writer
I've spent so many years talking about poverty and economic justice, I'm strongly tempted to get biblical. Jesus' teachings are so radical; they're just insanely generous and apocalyptic. Christians become more fascinated by the dead Jesus. They don't like the living Jesus.
- Barbara Ehrenreich, social commentator, author (1941-2022)
But you must return to your God, old fast to love and justice,
And wait continually for your God.
Hosea 12: 6