The Joy That Is Set Before Us (1956)

Abstract

For most of us, the great enemy of the Kingdom is today. The trap of dailiness catches us, and makes cowards of us all. For the train leaves for the office in five minutes; if the beds aren’t made and the dishes washed now, the house will be a mess all day. The baby is crying for his bottle, nobody can find any clean underwear this morning, and within an hour the editor of the Meeting’s Monthly Bulletin must have information about all the committee meetings to take place next month. It is not only that these things can’t wait today; it is that the same things recur with the same immediate urgency day after day after day. It is not as if we could work up an extra burst of speed, finish our tasks for once and all, and then be free to do “God’s work.” The more we long to be doing other work, the more overwhelming the tasks of the present seem, until they sap our courage and our strength. Or we may respond to the pressure by a complete about-face, and come to feel that these tasks are, after all, the only ones that matter. Then we are in danger of finding all our security in our daily routine, and will fear anything that might change it.