Are we staying alert to daily spiritual lessons through daily activities?

Have you ever taken note as to how the Bible beautifully interweaves the culture and the customs of the times and places in which its events occur. Although the cultural references were well known to the people who lived in those biblical times, many of them are unfamiliar to us in our daily lives.  Many everyday cultural activities are used to teach spiritual lessons.  The threshing floor, the winnowing fork and chaff seem foreign to us today as many of these tools have been replaced by mechanical operations, but the tools for making bread and the bread itself were vital in the Biblical days of John the Baptist.  Let's look at a few of the tools John the Baptist used in this week's Gospel lesson (Mt. 3:1-12) which provides a very effective visual interpretation of God's judgement.
Threshing removes the grain of wheat or barley from the stalk and husk. A common way of threshing was to pile the stalks and husks on the threshing floor where cows or oxen trampled them. Their feet “threshed” the grain from the stalk.
The winnowing fork looked similar to a pitch fork.  The winnowing fork was used to toss the wheat in the air to separate the wheat from its outer coating of chaff.
The chaff would be carried off by the wind or later burned while the heavier grain fell to the floor.  This would have been a very effective visual for the Pharisees and Sadducees of the time.  Although these methods seem foreign to us today I think we can also see just what John the Baptist was trying to convey.  We can see the hand of the Lord in our lives today as the powerful wind of the Holy Spirit blows away the chaff of sin from our lives; separating us from the cares of this life to prepare us for the world to come. God's message hasn't changed since the time of John the Baptist.  He may have used different cultural references today to express His message.  Maybe in the form of computer analogies....the delete key verses the save key?  Who knows, but His message stays true. God expects us to learn spiritual lessons from our daily lives. He wants us to repent, to be active in our obedience, to be productive in resisting temptation, serving others and sharing His word.  Are we staying alert to His daily spiritual lessons in our daily activities?
Come take some time this week to "prepare the way for the Lord" through so many Advent offerings:
Wednesday Night Supper: 5:45 in Satterlee Hall followed by an Advent Hymns program and a children's Advent program.
Friday Night: Kid's Movie Night and a parent's "Stained Glass Along".
Sunday worship followed by Evensong at 4:00 and a children's Evensong program.