The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

– Genesis 2:15

Think of a time when you have had the opportunity to interact with someone who visibly had a passion for their work suffusing effort and pride in every aspect of the task. In my experience, these memorable examples come from manual labor or service sector employees who valued their role or task and their interactions with others.

The Latin word vocatio means “a call” or “summons”. Luther referred to vocatio as living out faith doing an outstanding job in profession – giving glory to God. Additionally, some people such as our pastors and Lutheran school teachers are synodically trained for special service to the church and have a divine or formal call through the church. Yet each of us experiences vocatio through paid and unpaid positions and roles for which we are giving glory to God.

Take notice of the verbs in today’s verse. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work and keep it. Genesis 2:15 reveals God’s intentional actions with Adam. We can choose to use these same verbs as we reflect on where God has put us. When you intentionally say God put me here to __, do you easily recognize God’s summons or are you initially challenged to fill in the blank? Perhaps the last verse of LSB 781 “We Give Thee But Thine Own” will hearten you:

And we believe Thy Word,
Though dim our faith may be
Whate’er for Thine we do, O Lord,
We do it unto Thee.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, Thank you for the unique talents and gifts you have given to each of us. Strengthen us to approach our present vocatio as giving glory to you, O Lord. Amen.

Daily Reading: Ephesians 4

– Contributed by Connie Petrich