Philippians 2:12-18 / Luke 14:25-33
Very often it is difficult to see the big picture of what we are doing things for.
We can only see as far as what we are doing here and now. We don't know what are the ripple effects of our actions.
So we get bored and tired with our mundane and routine actions - we cook, we clean, we work, we take the same bus or train day in and day out.
Then we begin to complain about the monotony and we may even begin to argue that we are doing more than the rest.
We can't seem to be able to see more than what we are doing or to see the bigger picture of life.
In the 1st reading, St. Paul urged the Philippians to work for their salvation "in fear and trembling' because it is God, who for His own loving purpose, puts both the will and the action into them.
So God had a purpose for them in the good that they are doing. And God also has a purpose and a plan for us as we continue to carry the cross and walk the way of Jesus.
As St. Paul says of himself in what he did and was still doing for the Philippians: This would give me something to be proud of for the Day of Christ, and would mean that I had not run in the race and exhausted myself for nothing.
St. Paul was able to see the big picture of God's plan and purpose in the little things that he did.
May we too see that picture in the monotony, the mundane and the routine that we do day in day out, and may we believe that whatever we are doing in not wasted.