Work with all your heart, as if working for the Lord...

Mondays with Jesus 2017: Devotions to Begin Each Week of the Year

“Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:21, 23-24

Growing up, I remember a worn brown grocery sack as a steady constant on our dryer. Though Mom often exchanged the bag with a fresh one from the grocery store, the smell of its contents lingered in the small laundry room next to our carport.

The scent of rubber or, more accurately, of a tire plant.

My Daddy, James Bowers, worked at Goodyear for thirty-seven years. He began building tires at merely twenty years old, working third shift for years before finally moving to days. The work was labor intensive, to say the least. Back then, we had one car, and Momma would drive us to the plant to watch the men pouring out when their shift ended. My sister and I would search for the familiar walk of the man who provided everything we needed, the man who loved us unconditionally…and never complained about the position that would send him home with the potent scent of the tire plant on his clothes.

Even though it has been decades since that brown bag stayed on the dryer, I remember the scent vividly and would recognize it instantly even now, years later. It’s a reminder of what my Daddy was willing to do for us, every day, without complaining. It’s a reminder of his love for his wife and children.

As I read the verses above, I realize that Daddy never made us feel bitter toward the plant, but instead made sure we knew how thankful he was for the opportunity to work. And Daddy didn’t go to work and leave his Lord at home. The men and women who worked with him through those years knew that he wasn’t there alone; he worked with God in his mind and in his heart and didn’t hold back from sharing his Lord with his coworkers at the plant.

This Week: If your current employment isn’t what you had planned for yourself, or it isn’t as appealing as you would like, look at what it provides, rather than what it prevents. Look at it the way my precious Daddy did, as an opportunity, rather than a hindrance. And remember that you aren’t in that position to serve man, but to serve your Lord.

Renee Andrews