#10

10. We love to work (even Ansley who just last night helped me pull weeds out in our yard!). It sounds odd to some, but we both actually enjoy our work because for us it is part of fulfilling the mission and purpose God has for us outside of our home. We genuinely love our co-workers and count it a blessing and ministry to work alongside them. They are not just co-workers but friends whom we share life with. It is easy (most of the time) to get up in the morning (or for Jon...the evening) and head to our workplaces knowing that we can impact the fields of business, technology, healthcare and education for Christ.

I LOVE the excerpt below from Max Lucado's book, Cure for the Common Life . In fact, I keep it on my desk at work. Read it and be blessed...whatever work you do!

By job description, I teach at a public elementary school. By God's description, I pastor a class of precious children. Do I work for a school system or for God? Do I spend my day in work or worship? Do I make money or make a difference? Every morning I walk into the classroom that Jesus loaned me (little ole' me).

Henry Giles a nineteenth-century preacher said, "Men and women must work. That is as certain as the sun. But we may work grudgingly or we may work gratefully. We may work as people or machines. There is no work so rude that we may not exalt it; no work so impassive that we may not breathe a soul into it; no work so dull that we may not enliven it if we understand that what we are doing is service for our Lord Jesus Christ."

My daily prayer:
"Let the loveliness of my Lord, my God, rest on me, confirming the work that I do. Oh yes, affirm the work that I do."
Psalm 90:17