The Seven Dwarfs Almost Had It Right

In the beloved Disney movie Snow White there are seven dwarfs that go to work and sing “Whistle While You Work” all day. And you know, they almost got it right.

The Bible tells us not to whistle while we work, but to worship while we work. The text I talked on this past Wednesday night was 1 Thessalonians 5:17 ^“pray continually”. It is a pointed and potent text that if lived it out, will provide a peace and an experience of the power of God in ways beyond imagination.

Brother Lawrence, the man I used as an illustration on Wednesday night, was noted as a person who “learned to cultivate the deep presence of God so thoroughly in his own heart that he was able to joyfully exclaim, ‘I am doing now what I will do for all of eternity. I am blessing God, praising Him, and loving Him with all my heart.’”

Some might wrongly assume that because Brother Lawrence was a monk that he would, like a pastor today, only work three hours a week on Sunday and then have time to do nothing but pray. HA!!! Brother Lawrence is described as a humble cook who was extremely busy from before the sun went up until after it had gone down. His great contribution to the Kingdom of God was that he learned and passed on to us the truth that “the time he spent in communion with the Lord should be the same, whether he was bustling around in the kitchen – with several people asking questions at the same time – or on his knees in prayer.”

His book The Practice of the Presence of God is a classic and a must read. In the introduction of the book one author wrote,

Brother Lawrence insisted that, to be constantly aware of God’s presence, it is necessary to form the habit of continually talking with Him throughout each day. To think we must abandon conversation with Him in order to deal with the world is erroneous. Instead, as we nourish our souls by seeing God in His exaltation, we will derive a great joy at being His.

Today and everyday let’s make it our goal to worship while we work. “When there’s too much to do, don’t let it bother you” focus your heart and do your part, but worship while you work.