I just got back from vacation. It was a good vaca-tion, with a nice mix of doing nothing (swimming, reading by the pool), and doing fun stuff with the kids (rides, shows, etc.). Now I’m back at work. School year has started. September is a busy month in a lot of ways. Even though I love my job, it makes me think of a joke I think I shared in this space some months ago; the punchline was “break’s over, heads under!”
Somewhere in the course of a conversation with a coworker years ago, I mentioned something I was really looking forward to and said, “I wish that day would hurry up and get here!” And my coworker said, “Yeah, but isn’t that like wishing your life away?” The simple truth of that statement stunned me and continues to resonate. There is a line, I don’t even know if it is a fine one, between healthy anticipation and wishing your life away. I do not agree with the sentiment that if you don’t love your job, you are squandering your life. It’s just that our jobs don’t define us. There is more to life than the work we do.
It is easy, though, when in the grind of the job, to be counting down the days and hours between now and the time you are able to do what you really want to be doing, whether we are talking about regular occurrences like weekends and vacations, or rarer ones, like graduations and weddings. Anticipation is healthy. But when we become so focused on a future mo-ment that we are squandering the moment we are living in, it is a problem. Probably the most famous phrase from the book of Esther is “for such a time as this.” Mordecai was suggesting to Esther that the favor she had found with the king had been orchestrated by God in order to put her in a position to rescue her people, the Jews; that this was her moment.
I am not convinced that we all have a moment like that. But I am con-vinced that we have been saved by God for such a time as this in the broader sense. This is our time. This is our moment, whether or not it is the moment we dream of. We are here, now, in our posts as ambassa-dors of the kingdom of Heaven. And as such, we are always to be repre-senting Him, no matter what we are doing in the moment. Two verses come to mind. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Colossians 3:23-24 says, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inher-itance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”
There is nothing wrong with looking forward to the end of the workday, to vacation, even to retirement. But meanwhile, remember that whether you are a student, employee, or employer, you serve the Lord, and He will reward you. As we settle into another season, keep that in mind, and use that truth to help you set priorities. You are subjects of the Kingdom of God first. Before you are a student, before you are a worker or boss, before you are a son, daughter, father or son, even, you are His. We are His. His body. The church. I thank God for you, for this church. Right now, by the grace of God, there’s no place I’d rather be than . . .
With you in Christ,
