Working is a Blessing?

Why is it as humans we gravitate towards the negative? Is it our sinful nature? Our laziness (is it just easier to fall into the negative than to remind ourselves of the positive)? Our tendency to believe and focus solely on the negative seems to be universal. I remember a movie line where she says…’the bad stuff is easier to believe.’ Unfortunately, that seems to be true.

Stay with me here…

Take the fact that we ‘have’ to work for a living, for example. Well, most of us anyway. Unless you’re one of the few that doesn’t need the money, or you’re lucky enough to be retired. Even then, you’ve more than likely worked most of your adult life to be able to enjoy your remaining years not working. Those of us who are still working tend to bemoan the fact that we are forced to do it. We have bills to pay, families to care for, groceries to buy..etc.

John and I talk on a daily basis via video chat during our work days. (A blessing in itself.) However, we routinely spend most of it complaining about our work day and how much we’re looking forward to the weekend and getting a break from it all. We get mired down in the ‘have to’ instead of viewing it as a ‘get to’. We’re focusing on the bad stuff and the frustrations. All that successfully accomplishes is bringing down our mood when we should be focusing on the fact that we get to enjoy some conversation with each other during the day and talking about the positive, good things in our relationship. John brought this to my attention during one of those conversations and I couldn’t argue with him. He was absolutely right (don’t tell him I said that). I was getting so caught up in the frustrating parts of my job, I was bringing him down and neither one of us was able to just enjoy the chat we were having.

My pastor preached a sermon a couple of weeks ago about work. He reminded us ‘work’ was not part of the curse on mankind. Work is necessary. It didn’t just appear after Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, it was part of God’s original plan. When Adam and Eve were created and placed in the Garden… what did God tell them? He instructed them to tend it.

Genesis 2:15 – ‘And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

What a blessing to be there and what a blessing to have that ‘job’. God didn’t say…’Okay, here’s this perfect place, just lay back and relax!’

If you’ve ever been unemployed and struggling (and who hasn’t at some point?), you remember how relieved and happy you were when you finally landed that new job. You were so thankful! We need to be looking at work as a blessing. After all, Adam and Eve had a job to do and look at the environment they were ‘tasked’ with tending.. a perfect place! I can pretty much guarantee they didn’t get up in the morning complaining that they had to go to work!

We need to remember to be thankful that we were blessed with a way to sustain ourselves. To focus on the fact that we DO have jobs to go to, that we have family to care for, homes to pay for and upkeep and all of the other ‘chores’ that we do each day because of the many many things God has given us. None of us has anything based solely on our own effort. We have it because God has blessed us with it and we need to be good stewards of those things. Why would God entrust you with more and better things if you’re not tending to the things He’s already given you? Or.. in the words of my Pastor ‘Why would God give you a Porsche if you don’t take care of His Pinto?!’ (One of my favorite quotes)

So when you wake up in the mornings and find yourself feeling bad and wanting to complain about having to go to work… take a pause. Say a little prayer thanking God for His many blessings and the opportunity to go to work so you can continue to tend to them.