I just got the floor mopped when the cat walked in with muddy feet. I’m trying to illustrate my blog, but the photo software glitches. I invested years in a business that was a financial failure. What if our best efforts bring disappointing results?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about work. That may sound funny since my husband and I are retired. But work is a big part of life even after retirement. So is that a bad thing? Should we hope for a life free from work with just carefree hours of play?
What does God think about work?
God works.
“On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.” Genesis 2:2
God gave Adam work to do in the new, perfect world. (Before things went wrong.) “The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.” Genesis 2:15 Tending the garden may not have been super exciting.
My daily chores aren’t particularly exciting either, so my attitude can be pretty negative. Sometimes while I’m cooking a meal, vacuuming, or doing laundry the thought runs through my mind, “If I didn’t have to do this menial chore, I could be doing something important.” So how do I get a positive attitude toward the time spent doing mindless chores?
I need to assign value to those simple, daily jobs; both to the process and to the end result. It matters that my house is clean and neat and that we eat healthy, nourishing meals. It also matters that I discipline myself to do what needs to be done even when I don’t feel like it because character matters. And I don’t have to just grit my teeth, endure it, and hope I can finish quickly. Instead, when I don’t have to concentrate on the job, I can use my brain for other things, such as praying for loved ones, meditating on Scripture, or thinking through a blog topic. Another positive aspect of doing chores is the therapeutic benefit. Because most chores aren’t mentally demanding, I can relax and enjoy simple things like hot water and soap, ( Wow! Hot water at the touch of a faucet. Don’t have to heat the water on a kerosene burner like I did in the jungle.), the smell of clean laundry, the shine of mopped floors. Delighting in simple things, relaxing, and being thankful refreshes me.
I work hard, and it’s so frustrating when my efforts don’t produce what I hoped for. I just got the floor mopped 
when the cat walks in with muddy feet. I need to illustrate my blog which involves considerable time preparing images in different software programs, but the software glitches. Husband cringes when I sit at my computer with steam coming out my ears. I get so fed up! But we mustn’t give up. Which is not to say we should keep doing the same thing over and over. We have to keep trying different ways until we succeed. I often think of Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) who submitted a manuscript to 28 publishers before one agreed to accept it. We all struggle, but persistence does pay off as the verses below declare, ‘you will eat’. Frustration and disappointment are the unavoidable consequences of a broken world. What frustrates you? But we will have some success if we are persistent and hard working.
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree
whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,
the ground is cursed because of you.
All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.
It will grow thorns and thistles for you,
though you will eat of its grains.
By the sweat of your brow
will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
from which you were made.” Genesis 3:17-19
Is creative activity as honorable as what is commonly called work? Is service to others valuable in itself? Is the
value of our efforts measured in output and results?
God creates. God called his creative activity work. “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.” Genesis 2:2
God gives creative work to man. “So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals.” Genesis 2:19-20 He commissioned Adam to do the creative job of naming the animals. But why do I feel guilt when I’m sitting at my computer and Husband is building us a house? Is my creative work on this blog important? I don’t have a well-built house to show for my labor. I only have some words and pictures on a computer screen. Is my work honorable, too? Just because we may not have a physical result of our efforts, doesn’t mean they are worthless. Time spent taking an elderly friend to the doctor is effort invested well. Taking care of children is an investment which will pay dividends for their lifetimes. Listening to a grandchild’s questions and opinions can be life altering. Volunteering at a resource center to help make someone’s life a little better is valuable to both you and them. But what if our well-meaning efforts bring disappointing results? What if the elderly friend dies; the children grow up to make bad choices, the grandchild leaves the faith? Was our work meaningless, useless, or even harmful? God rewards our honest efforts done from right motives. The outcomes are out of our control and are in God’s hands.
Is it ok to hate my job? Should I try to improve my job situation or stay where I am? Contentment comes from trusting God for today and tomorrow. Freedom is more a state of mind than my circumstances.
“Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it. And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ.” I Corinthians 7:21-22
So if you hate housecleaning and you are able to afford a housekeeper, do it! If you have a toxic work environment and you are offered a better job, take it! But if there isn’t an out right now, take comfort that you’re in the care of a kind heavenly Father who has a good purpose for you even the hard times.
“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24
No matter what my job is, I’m not wasting my time and effort when it is done for God and for the sake of others.