Resting in Labor

Saturday night at the park a neighbor asked if I was going to relax for the holiday weekend.
I thought about it and said no.  I'd rest on Sunday but come Monday, it was labor for me.

I think my mom always said "we labor on Labor Day."

It still stands true.  There is a hope of rest in the work, though.

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

It's the remembering of God in my daily work.  A turning and communing with Him.  A giving thanks to Him....

My body weary, my kitchen dirty, my cabinets too high for me to reach easily, I start to mumble, self-pity overtaking without me even knowing.  The Spirit calls and I listen, stop...turn my thoughts back to Him.  Thank Him for my kitchen.  For a good day of work.  For the work He's given me to do.  For the smile of a child passing by.  For a bed I will get to crawl into soon.....

This demands an explanation...I stole a friends' idea and each year on our vacation the kids each get to pick their own cereal out for the trip.  In other words, this is NOT normal!!! 

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive and inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving."


Even more, I'm seeking that the "whatever I do" will be exactly what the Lord is wanting me, calling me to do.  Both of those verses in Colossians 3 start with that phrase.  Doesn't it matter what?  In some ways no.  It encompasses all people...whatever they do.

In some ways yes.  I need to seek His guidance as I make decisions about our schedule, our days, our moments.  Then as I'm doing that work and weary or depressed or discouraged or frustrated or detoured, it is His will I'm in.  I can do that work for Him, in His name, thanking Him even so.

And in that there is rest.

A few more funny pictures as I savor these childhood moments:

My instructions before they left for the lake were "you need to put the game away.  Completely.  In its' box."
hmmmmmm

This two year-old snuck away from me at the pool.  I'd just finished putting on his life jacket so he could go in the "big pool" and then turned to explain where the towels were to Conner.  I turned back and Timmy was gone.  We started searching the water and the big slide frantically.  Dawson spotted him first.  He had climbed up into a vacant Life Guards' chair and was gazing out at everyone contentedly.