Prayer and Work

Praying and working are two different things.  Prayer should not be hindered by work, but neither should work be hindered by prayer.  Just as it was God’s will that human beings should work six days and rest and celebrate before the face of God on the seventh, so it is also God’s will that every day should be marked for the Christian both my prayer and work.  Prayer also requires its own time.  But the longest part of the day belongs to work.  The inseparable unity of both will only become clear when work and prayer each receives its own undivided due.  Without the burden and labor of the day, prayer is not prayer; and without prayer, work is not work.  Only the Christian knows that.  Thus it is precisely in the clear distinction between them that their oneness becomes apparent.

            Dietrich Bonhoeffer from “Life Together”