I got to thinking, When is the last time we thanked God for work?
It’s usually not at the top of my list. Yes, I’ve thanked God for a paycheck, for the security of my work. But what about thanking God for the ability to work? Even the privilege to work?
We can learn much from the unemployed.
Like my friend I’ll call Lisa. Lisa is a single executive who’s been out of work for 5 years. Sure, she misses a paycheck – she’s gotten by on savings, unemployment, selling things she doesn’t need, and part-time jobs.
But you know what she really misses?
Work.
The ability to contribute. The ability to create. The ability to care and nurture.
It makes perfect sense. God is a worker. We are created in his image. Of course Lisa misses her work.
Just last week, Lisa sent me a card and a gift. I knew she didn’t have extra money, so I quickly opened the card to see what was going on.
Lisa didn’t just find a job. She found work. Good work.
And Lisa was thankful. So much that she wanted to give -- she went out of her way to thank me for my professional and personal support, even before she received her first paycheck.
Thanks to Lisa, this week I’m asking myself a new question: When’s the last time I thanked God for work?
7 comments:
Wonderful reminder, Susan!! Because you're right. I think I take work for granted all too often. And I would NOT like the alternative.
It's a great question, and a great time to remind ourselves that when God created humans, he gave them work. Work is a place where we encounter God. Then the first thing the new workers did was take a Sabbath. We tend to think in terms of working hard then taking a rest from our work. Rather I think Genesis gives us a picture of beginning in rest, and then working out of rest. That insight has changed how I feel about work and made me grateful for the blessing of work as almost sacred space, because it comes to me from God's hand.
Such a good question, especially for me right now, Susan. Know how sometimes the grass looks greener...? Well, I need to be thankful and bloom where He planted me. And there is a lot to be thankful for in my little plot, too.
Have an awesome Thanksgiving, my friend!
Thanks for this post. I believe God wanted me to read it today... as I sit here, procrastinating the work I have to do. I'm a work-at-home medical transcriptionist and today has been difficult and unproductive. The kids are fighting, the phone is ringing endlessly, the work is more difficult than usual, and I was silently wishing that we could afford for me to not have to work anymore.
God blessed my family tremendously just yesterday with my husband finding the kind of work he was looking for after a long stretch of being without it, and I think it is definitely time we do everything we do to the glory of God, being thankful in it.
Thanks again for this post.
Yes, yes, yes. Really, what would we be doing without work? We'd be creating some kind of work for ourselves, right? Thanks for getting us in the right groove, Susan. I am so thankful for a job that pays well, with good people, that I am good at, and that I (for the most part) like. True blessings.
Very good reminder as we enter the Christmas season. I am thankful for the work and business that God has brought my way.
Very convicting, Susan. Lately I have really noticed what a whiner I've been (especially about work). Counting my work among my blessings this a.m.
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