What is the most important time of your workday?
That may sound like a trick question, but think of it this way: where in your day are the points of greatest leverage? For me, some of the most important moments are the moments when I surrender.
Why “Surrender” Feels Vague
“Surrender” is one of those Christian words that can start to feel vague and abstract. We talk easily about giving our lives to God, surrendering our hearts to Christ, or yielding to God’s will in a crisis—and those are real and important.
But what does surrender look like in the ebb and flow of an ordinary workday? Does theology ever make contact with the actual meeting, email, decision, or task in front of you?
God Is Present in the Ordinary
What we often miss is that it’s just as important to recognize God’s presence and power in the ordinary client meeting, tax return, securities trade, or operations policy review as it is when the wheels come off, and we go into crisis mode.
Jesus is just as present, just as powerful, and just as interested in his kingdom agenda in the ordinary as in the spectacular. If that’s true, then some of the most strategic moments in your day are the moments you remember it—and respond to it.
A Simple Practice: Surrender the Next Thing
So how do we act on it? We surrender.
Yield the moment—the task, the meeting, the phone call, the strategy, the challenge, whatever is in front of you—to God’s agenda as it comes. Honor God right there, and ask for the grace, wisdom, and help you need in that specific moment.
God is faithful to meet you there. And as you open your work to him, he has a way of redirecting, steadying, sharpening, and blessing what’s in front of you—not always by making it easy, but by making you present with him in it.
This isn’t complicated. The follow-through can get messy as the day unfolds, but the prayer itself can be simple. You don’t need an intricate theological formula. You just need honesty, attention, and the willingness to return again and again.
A Prayer for the Work in Front of You
Take it to God, keep it real, and be ready to come back to a prayer like this anytime you want to invite the perfect, loving, almighty Creator of the universe into the work at hand.
Use your own words as you pray—but if it helps, here’s a starting point:
God, whatever you want to do in and through my work here and now, I invite you to do it. Align my heart and mind with your will, because your will is perfect. Through every task in front of me, I want to partner with you in what you are doing in the world around me. I claim the presence and power of Jesus in and over my work, and I yield it to you now. In this, Lord, let your Kingdom come.
