What You Take for Granted

In all labor there is profit (Proverbs 14:23).

All labor. Not just the kind whose wages you can deposit into your checking account. Unfortunately, that’s the one that gets the most praise. That’s the one everybody focuses on. All the other labor gets pushed into the background, irrelevant, doesn’t matter.

We spend a great deal of time working to fatten our wallets and our bank accounts. We recognize the value of a dollar. We know the doors they open for us. We focus so much on working for the paper, we trivialize the other work.

But all work yields profit.

Happy families are not born; they’re made. Made by the work you put in them. A house doesn’t clean itself. A house becomes a home because you work to make it one. Even faith in God is work, very important work.

We have to work at becoming good people, work to become great. We work to make our gardens fruitful and weed-free. Shopping is work–finding sales, the best deals.

We have to work to smile when we feel like crying, forgive when we want to hate, get up after we’ve been knocked down. Fight back when we want to give up.

If there is no profit from all your other labors, then the profit from your job is just paper. If you want a full life, then you have to do the work. All the work. A house is more than one wall. Life is more than money.

stressed Would you still feel successful if you had all the money, but your life was jacked up and your kids were running crazy, and you’re wearing masks every day to hide your misery?

If none of this work has value, why do you get stressed? Why do you seek relief, release, and escape? Why do you get tired?

And don’t be deceived: Love is not a feeling, it’s work.

So work on your marriage, your home life, your children, your dreams. Work on yourself. All of it has value; all of it matters. It’s time to stop taking the work you do for granted. And it’s time to stop letting other people do it too.

Your labors are not in vain. They will yield fruit if you don’t give up on them. Recognize what you do and do it with purpose and expectation.

And with all the work you already do, I implore you to add one more job: Work to see and appreciate all the labor you do that doesn’t pay with dollars, but still make you rich.