It’s a question I asked myself a lot. The Last several months–the last several years, I should say–I’ve struggled with feeling like my work wasn’t worth anything. I think that’s mainly due to the world we live in. Everyone is focused on “making something of themselves”.
I feel that until recently, stay at home moms were looked down on. Especially stay at home wives, which is what I did, even before I had a son. I’ve never had a “leave-the-house-at-7:30, come home-at-5:00” kind of job. As a teenager I worked for my parents on the farm. I did that several years into our marriage, then they didn’t need me on the farm. But I kept myself busy. I like to be busy. For different reasons I chose not to get a job, but mainly because I love working on a country home. Where there are animals to tend to, a garden to grow, a home and a yard to keep. This is what I enjoy doing, but I felt like it wasn’t worth anything.
This made me feel useless and unneeded. Until God opened my mind.
I could work at an insurance company–I could own an insurance company–for what? So that someone else can have insurance on their vehicle. (I want insurance on my vehicle, so I appreciate anyone in that line of work.) I could work at a hospital (a very needed job), and I could tend to the sick. So that someone else can live longer or healthier.
But in the end, all work is serving someone else.
And then what? We die. We fall asleep, hopefully we meet our savior. All work was to occupy our time, serve God and others while we lived on earth. Why then is one job valued higher than an other? I know different jobs require different knowledge, skills, degrees, energy levels–different people are made for different things. But every job is to serve someone else. The question then is, who are we serving? Is our work for the Lord or for the world. I’m not talking about a minister or a preacher, but how and why we do our work. Every good and noble task can be done for the Lord.
So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31
When we our choosing our career, we’re choosing who we want to serve. Some serve the sick, some serve the farmers, others serve the poor, but above all, we are serving God. (I’m talking about believers.) By working in the world he created. And then we go home.
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. Ecclesiastes 5:18
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58
I’ve come to learn that all work is valuable if it is done for the Lord. Only by serving Him will we feel fulfilled, satisfied, and content.
All work that is not intended to serve the Lord is meaningless and worthless.
Until next time,
-Maria
Maria Loewen Friesen 