Gleanings… March   2019

I am writing today while sitting at the kitchen island in a vacation rental home in the Orlando area.  Fitted out with multiple bedrooms and baths, it is a wonderful place to house a large number of people so as to save a bit of money for visiting the local attractions.  And, if you just feel like hanging around the house, there is a small pool and hot tub under screening that allows you to relax and doze to your hearts delight.  It is also a pretty good place to work if that is what one needs to do.

And that is where this article takes off.  When are we ever not working?  Seems like the more we seek to take a break from work, the more we end up working.  Talk about your basic no-win situation!  So, what are we to do?  I believe that instead of looking for ways to avoid work, we should look at work as a blessing from God.

When we work, we fulfill a basic purpose for our existence.  Our world needs people to use their gifts and talents whether they are compensated for them or not.  Work done for the purpose of bettering the lives of all people means that we can share in the benefits that are the fruit of our labor.

Ever thought about what work adds the greatest value to our lives?  I know that we value certain forms of work more than others.  We seem, at times, to place far more value on the forms of work that provide the greatest accumulation of assets.  I am not sure that that is where we need to focus though.  What benefits and blesses the greatest number of people is doing what assures them they are loved.

Loving one another does more to improve our lives than all the things that money can buy.  Love brings healing, restores our feelings of self-worth, and enables us to love others.  Love embodies forgiveness, mercy, compassion, and caring for one another.  Love asks us to let go of every thought that we are better than others.  Thus, when we love, we accept the model of Jesus who loved without reservation.

If there is a work that we need to constantly seek to be better at, I believe it is the work of loving one another.  I was blessed to have this opportunity to travel to Florida with family so that we could enjoy the presence of one another.  Through days of activity and just laying around the house, we are accomplishing the work we have been given to do.  That being said, I believe I hear work calling me.  May your days be filled with work that honors God and shares His love with others.

Blessings,

Pastor Braxton ><>