One of Martin Luther’s contributions was giving our work a higher purpose.  Work is not simply labor and toil, but a calling, a vocation.  That’s important to remember when our work and life seems meaningless drudgery.

Luther wrote, “What is our work in field and garden, in town and house, in battling and in governing, but the work of children through which God bestows his gifts on the land, in the house, and everywhere? Our works are God’s masks, behind which He remains hidden, although He is doing everything.  He could give you corn and fruit without you plowing and planting, but that is not His will; neither is it his will that your plowing and planting is solely why you produce corn and fruit.  But you must plow and plant and say a blessing on your work and pray: Now help, O God; give us now corn and fruit, dear Lord; for otherwise our plowing and planting will not yield us anything.  It is a gift.

God is the giver of all good gifts; but you must act and take the bull by the horns, which means you must work to give God an occasion and a mask to work His work.”

From Luther’s exposition of Psalm 147