Fruitful Labor

I spent the entire day today at work.  I mean, 8 AM to 8PM, 12 hours of doing church work, accomplishing stuff, reading, prepping, emailing, outlining, designing, brainstorming--that type of work.

Some of you had long, stressful days yourselves.  Hours of work, hours of picking-kids-up-only-to-drop-them-off-again runaround, hours of busy.

Others have worked hours at jobs that they hate, doing the same thing over and over again like a scratched CD skipping back every 2 seconds...

May I ask an honest question?

What are we actually accomplishing in all of our busyness?  What are we accomplishing in the hours of transporting kids, making money, planning ministry?

If you are like me, the honest answer may be that we accomplish very little.  We gain very little.

Life, gone by going through the motions.

I have been reading Philippians 1 every day the past couple weeks, focusing on one verse at a time.  Today, the verse that struck me is verse 22.  Look it up.  I will wait for you.

Paul knows that life, for him, will mean FRUITFUL labor.

Life that counts labor.

Days-not-wasted-going-through-the-motions-without-thinking-through-the-results work.

I don't know that I hold the answer, but I want to see us all choose to work, parent, learn, serve, fellowship, and love in such a way that our labor isn't wasted.

I want our work to bear fruit that lasts.

My best advice:  examine your actions.  Don't walk blindly through life working, parenting, or even "doing church" the way everyone else does.  I know that we tell our kids that "just because everyone else does it..." line, but often our lives look just like everyone else.

Why?  Perhaps we have never considered if different could work.

Maybe different could more than work, maybe it could be fruitful.

Yes, perhaps being different in what we work on, how we run our family, what our priorities are...maybe that would help our work to be more fruitful.