In Toil There Is Profit

"In all toil there is profit,
    but mere talk leads only to poverty." Proverbs 14:23

"Are you a Finn?" That was a strange question to be asked by a supervisor. But, that is exactly what I was asked years ago as I worked on a production line in a sewing factory. I had laughed and asked him how he could know that as I was living in North Carolina where there were very few people of Finnish descent. I knew of only one other. The supervisor was not of Finnish descent himself. He said he guessed that because of my work ethic. At the time, the company I worked for was laying me off and paying me unemployment one or two days every week because the particular station I worked at would run out of work by Wednesday or Thursday. In the history of the factory no one had ever made production at my station until that time.

I am still not sure how he would guess my ethnicity as I know a lot of people today of this same ethnic background who do not like to work and who will go out of their way to avoid it. I do not believe that ethnicity has much to do with our particular work ethics. Our work ethics are not necessarily dictated by our gene pool; but, has more to do with our environment.

I was taught at an early age that in order to live; in order to eat; in order to have shelter and heat, we must work. We must take care of responsibilities. We probably spend around one third of our lives working so we may as well do it well. We may as well throw ourselves into it and enjoy it.

Raising our sons, I would often make games out of household chores. We would work together so that the chores we had to complete would be more enjoyable for all. There is profit in our toil. Sometimes, it is merely to survive and to survive well. Other times it is so that we can share fruitful time with others.

Whatever we do, let us do it well that the work of our hands might glorify our Father in heaven.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Enjoy Life With Your Wife!

 

"Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun."  Eccl 9:9

Nearing the end of my vacation with my husband, I wanted to cook out. I had planned to cook bratwursts over an open fire with marshmallows for desert. I did not realize that some NFL play-offs were on television at the same when I had suggested it. My husband did not say a thing about it. I figured it out when I went outside to see how the fire was going and he was standing before the fire pit checking the game on his telephone. He was multi-tasking. He managed both quite well. He managed to hang in there until supper was over before he retreated to the living room.

We have many common interests. But, we also have many uncommon interests. He enjoys football. I do not. I enjoy hiking and camping and kayaking. He does not. But, somehow we manage to find a way to enjoy life together.

May God bless all husbands and wives with the gift of enjoying life together.

God's Peace - Pr. J

We Are God's Hands

"And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these." Matt 6:28-29

I am no longer sure what is in fashion or not. I know that I like long skirts. In the summer they are cooler than slacks or jeans and in the winter I can wear boots and long underwear under them instead of panty hose and no one is the wiser. The problem the market is not inundated with long dresses so my closet doesn't have an abundance of them.

Fortunately, one of the perks of being a pastor is that I don't have to think too much about what I'm going to wear. Shirt, collar and a skirt or (sadly) slacks. Sometimes, I wear my pink or purple shirt with blue jeans; depending where I'm going or what I'm doing. An alb on Sundays covers up anything I might be wearing underneath. At the little church in Aura, without air conditioning, I have threatened to wear my swimsuit underneath in the summer. The temperatures raise even more once the pews are filled with God's children. No one would know. I leave the house in an alb and return in the alb. No, one knows what I'm wearing underneath anyway.

Society spends an awful lot of time and money on worrying about what we should wear when there are a whole lot more important and pressing things to worry about. There are hungry children and multitudes of cold children who don't have the option of deciding which jacket to wear because they have none at all. There are the sick and the persecuted and the dying who need tending to. There is enough to take care of in this world to have time or money to worry about what we will wear. God uses us to help clothe and otherwise care for those in need. We are His hands.

May He help us to understand that rather than worry about which sweatshirt we should wear, we should be busy being His hands to feed and clothe those who are truly in need.

God's Peace - Pr. J

P.S. Toys for Tots Benefit Concert at Zion this Sunday at 2 pm in support of the children of Baraga County. See you all there! 

Ecclesiastes 5 - The Meaninglessness Of The Love Of Money

The older I get and death becomes more of a reality, I lapse into more moments of thinking that life is as meaningless as Solomon would imply. Why all the years of toil, if it is to be gone in a second? Even if you have something to leave your offspring, how long will it last them? Do they follow in the way that they should go so that all that they say and thing and do will glorify God? Will their inheritance be wasted away on trivial stuff - fleeting moments of pleasure rather than those things that will bring real joy (that is glorifying God)? Will they appreciate all the years that you spent earning and saving it for them?

This toiling after riches is meaningless.

"Whoever loves money never has enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless.
As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
except to feast their eyes on them?
The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether they eat little or much,
but as for the rich, their abundance
permits them no sleep.
I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:

wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when they have children
there is nothing left for them to inherit.
Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,
and as everyone comes, so they depart.
They take nothing from their toilthat they can carry in their hands.  (Eccl 5:10 - 15 NIV) 

That is not to say work is evil. We should work if we expect to eat. But, it becomes very bothersome, even a burden, when one works only to amass riches. Jesus told this story to a crowd who followed to listen to Him: 
 “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
  "Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
  “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God." Luke 12:17-21

Our work should bring joy to us as well as to others. Live life! Enjoy the life that God has given you! Whether it is in the hours you spend laboring or during the hours you are relaxing with your friends and family, life here on earth is to be lived and enjoyed. Life, abundant life, is a gift from God.

"This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart." (Eccl 1:18-20).

Focus your journey here on earth, not on amassing wealth or power to the exploit of others, but on living life so that God may be glorified.

And... may the peace and joy that is found in being in relationship with God, our Father and with one another, through His Son, Jesus the Christ, be with you always.  Pr. J