The blessing of Work

As most of you know, Mr P and I teach a class every couple of years called The Truth Project.  It's done by Focus on the Family, and if you've never done it, I highly recommend it.  It will change your life.  


When R was little, 1-2, Mr P and I had a serious shoulder-shaking from God.  He opened our eyes to so many areas that we were not lining up with Him.  When I look back at that time in our lives, one BIG mind-altering change after another, my mental picture is this teeny boat on huge waves.  I can honestly tell you that it was painful at times.  At times, Mr. P had to drag me through the journey, and at others, I was dragging him.  But through that time, we have come out with our eyes opened to how God truly designed us, how He designed this world we live in, and how we should interact with that world.  The Truth Project was one of the last major steps in that time of shaping us.  It is a study on Biblical Worldview - on truly what God says about every area of our lives and how we are to live in this world He created.  And the title is appropriate.  We have been deceived in so many things in this life, things that most people don't think God cares about, when in fact, He HAS spoken and He is using all of those things to reveal His character to the lost.  


So a couple of weeks ago, we did the second to last study, which was about the Labor Sphere, or the blessing of Work.  "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God."  Exodus 20:8-10 (those of you who have done Sonlight K will now have that song stuck in your head all day).  God isn't commanding us to work, He is allowing us to work for 6 days, only asking for one day to rest and reflect on His goodness.  So why does work have such a negative connotation?  Why are those who love to work (not work-aholics, those who truly just love to work for those 6 days) seen as strange, or even crazy?  Why is work seen as just a means to an end?  If God created man, then put him in the garden to work the ground ("The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it" Genesis 2:15) did He not then create us to work?  (This is not to be confused with the curse after the fall.  The curse was not that man had to work, the curse was that the work would be unproductive - i.e. the weeds would return, the plants would die, the kids would mess up the house 5 minutes after you finished cleaning, etc).  


So why are we, as Christians, not joyfully getting up to work?  "Whatever your do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving."  Colossians 3:23-24.  Why are we not working as unto the Lord?  Working as if He were our employer?  Stay-at-homes, why are we drudging through our daily chores as if our homes, our families were not God's possessions that He lovingly entrusted to us?


Because truth of the matter is this: God is who has given us this time, this job, this home, this family, everything.


I have been really, really struggling with this since we watched the Labor tour on Truth Project.  Between that and some other blogs and books I've been reading lately, it's obvious that God has been staging an intervention in my life.  I cannot go through my life thinking that my only duty is behind closed doors, that I don't really have a mission, a purpose.  I mean, I'm a mom, yeah.  I'm a wife, absolutely.  But wait.  THOSE are the mission fields that God has given me.  I have never felt called to serve in other countries, only to be home caring for my family.  And how am I serving them?  How am I reflecting God's character to them?  How am I doing it "as unto the Lord"? 


Truth is, most days I'm not.  Truth is, my house looks more like I am absent, rather than I'm cleaning my house as if God himself asked me to polish his floors.  But, He did!  He has asked me to polish His floors, to wipe His children's dirty faces, to (gag) scrub His toilets.  Because all these things are HIS.  


Obviously, this is something that I'm working through in my life.  Currently.  Like right now. I have no answers for you on how to do it for yourself.  All I know, is that Friday, something clicked in my head.  My bathroom was disgusting and I was simply convicted.  I wasn't serving my family with a nasty bathroom, and I certainly wasn't worshipping, serving, or reflecting my God with this nasty bathroom.  I was not cleaning my house as unto the Lord.  So, I did.  I cleaned one room of my house.  It took my two hours, but I got that bathroom shining - top to bottom.  And you know what?  It felt good.  Really good.  I can honestly say that I cleaned that bathroom as unto the Lord.  If God has a taste for late-80's decor, I am almost positive that my bathroom would have been fit for the mansions in heaven.  Probably not for the quality of my work - because it's nowhere near perfect, but more for the quality of my attitude.  


So ladies - you have been called by God to take care of His things - the husband He gave you, the children He gave you, the home, car, etc that He has given you.  Use these things to reveal God's character to those around you.  Not to glorify yourself (though, honestly, I'm so tempted to invite the neighbors over just to see my sparkly bathroom), but to honor God.   And you will receive the blessing of work.