The Light Burden

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." -Mt. 11:28
There is a saying that proposes that the monastic life is one of holy leisure. As anyone who has lived a monastic life will tell you, this is not how it appears from the inside. There are chores to be done, people to be fed, and prayers to be said; indeed the life of a monastic is very busy.
Although the monastic has very few free moments in his or her day, they are generally more willing to give of that free time to others than their secular counterparts (this is simply my observation). I once encountered a monk on retreat who interrupted his silence to welcome me, though I was not a member of his order. This is telling; the retreat (that is to say the withdrawal away from the business of the monastery for a time of intense silent reflection) is held by many monastic houses in the highest regard, and is typically not to be interfered with by insiders or outsiders alike.
The charity of that monk will always stick with me. He broke more than a few rules to show me kindness, and for that I am eternally grateful. But I digress.
When I compare all the work (that being manual labor and prayer alike) that I do to any job I had in my secular life, my work seems quite easy. Sure there are chores that I would rather not do and times when I would rather be sleeping than praying but who doesn't desire to be resting when they are working instead?
One of the most important teachings of the monastic life is turning work into prayer. If you begin your work with prayer and pray while you are working, then the labor before you becomes an act of sacrifice and thanksgiving to your Creator instead of a dreaded chore that we may drag our feet to accomplish. In this way the work we do becomes easy and worthwhile.
I encourage you to give prayerful work a try. You may find that, as the passage above from the Gospel of St. Matthew says, the yoke is easier and the burden is lighter.