TAKING TIME TO CELEBRATE

TAKING TIME TO CELEBRATE

God tells us, “Every man should enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God” (Eccles. 3:13). How often have we not taken the time to do this?

We enjoy the money we get from a job but there are lots of jobs where we don’t get paid with money and we need to take a minute to acknowledge and celebrate those too. What about the small, seemingly insignificant work we do throughout a day? God says we are to enjoy the good of ALL our labor.

When I was working with my friend, Wendy, there was this one guy who seemed to never crack a smile. He’s in a wheelchair and went by us several times during the day. Even when I smiled at him, I got no reaction, as if I wasn’t even there. But the very last time in the day when he went by us I smiled again and made a joke, and sure enough, he lightened up, smiled and even responded to my goofy remark. Wendy and I celebrated by getting all giggly and doing a little celebration dance at our accomplishment. That was fun.

We aren’t supposed to just work and work and work until we exhaust ourselves. Most of us need to celebrate more. God says we’re supposed to “ENJOY THE GOOD OF ALL HIS [OUR] LABOR”, not just the good from the paycheck we get from our jobs, but the good we get from anything we work at. Do we get a good feeling of accomplishment? The satisfaction of a small victory? Do we get a thank you from someone? Happiness in a new skill learned? Do we feel good about doing something we’ve been putting off for a while? There are many good results from our labors and lots of reasons to celebrate because we work at a variety of tasks.

Just think of some things you work at: Do you work at exercising? Eating well? Reading the Bible? Praying? Going to bed on time? Do you work at not gossiping? At paying your bills on time? Do you work at saying something kind every day? Do you work at spending more time with your kids?

Think of two things you worked at today. Whatever it was, God says we need to take the time to CELEBRATE. It’s His gift to us. We can say, “Hey, I did pretty well at that. Great job! I did it!” The Lord wants us to be blessed and this is just one way He’s given us to put a little more joy in the day.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. Where does it say in the Bible that we should enjoy the good of our labor?

2. Besides your actual job, list at least five things you worked on this week. For each, what was the “good” of that labor? Did you celebrate? If not, do something nice for yourself or a verbal “Hey, great job!” right now.

3. What is the “gift of God” in Ecclesiastes 3:13?