Thoughts for the Day

* An old sign for "Labour in vain".

Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labour in vain.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives sleep to his beloved.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Years ago my family lived in Westergate near Bognor Regis and the village pub (now closed) was called "The labour in vain", which always amused me. It comes, as we see, from Psalm 127, and refers to something done that is pointless. It is also to be found in the UK on old 'trade tokens' which were given to workmen as wages to be redeemed for money at a local pub. Often they would be paid at the end of the week and late at night, when many had squandered their wages on drink, so laboured in vain. It's also found on street names. In the book titled "New View of London" by Edward Hatton written in 1708, Old Fish Street is given the alternate name "Labour in Vain Hill", and locals referred to it as "The devil in a tub", meaning to do something pointless like trying to wash the devil clean.

Psalm 127 is another of these pilgrim Psalms of Ascent, sung as the people climb the hills to the Temple in Jerusalem, at a time when they are beginning to prepare themselves spiritually for worship. Have they laboured up the hills but not prepared themselves for attending the Temple, and so laboured in vain?

It's therefore appropriate to consider it in the context of the last couple of days before Christmas. Either all that we do is done with God in mind, or it's all in vain. There is no other choice. At the bedrock of our life should be God. So even when doing something mundane, or when we are toiling anxiously (as the psalm puts it) these last days before Christmas, if we can view things from God's perspective it's amazing how this will change our feelings about the work and the day!

Lord God Almighty,
may our thoughts, our actions
and our life be not in vain.
May we always have You
as the bedrock of our faith
so that we try to live
in a way that You would wish.
This Advent and Christmas
may we quieten our souls
and live for You.
Amen.