Vacation Is Over:

SOMETHING  TO THINK ABOUT

Though it has been a long time since I graduated from high school, the new pencil toting crowd and I have something in common--vacation is over.   The last STTA I sent out was kind of an anniversary announcement, our fortieth.  This milestone was particularly significant to me because it was the last one my parents reached.  My dad died in the year of life I'm in right now.  In celebration of forty years together Kathy and I took a lovely vacation. But it's over, and like the young scholars, it's time to get back to work.  No complaint, here, that's as it should be.   From the book of Genesis, where we readthat God gave the first couple a job (Genesis 2:15), to the book of Ecclesiastes where meaningful work is clearly held up as a gift from God (Here, for instance), to the New Testament, where work, even manual labor, is held up as a good thing,  the Bible makes clear that it is not God's intention that we live on perpetual vacation.  Lots of folk have a very bad attitude about their work--and, students, right now your job is your school-work.  Here are a couple of thoughts to help us adjust our attitude about work: Know that it is God's plan for His children to work.  You may have to take it by faith for a while, but work is good. Work done well leads to better things.  People who work well tend to advance.  There is a clear satisfaction in a job well done.  The mastering of new skills and the discipline of just showing up and doing one's job, often expands our horizons.  Labor adds to the pool of "goods" enjoyed by all of us. It is not a scriptural proverb, but there is truth in the aphorism: "Idle hands are the Devil's workshop."  (see 1 Timothy 5:13, for an example) Generally, going to work (and this applies to going to school in a future sense) is the means God has provided to meet our daily needs. Vacation is over, and that's OK.   It's STTA.     http://covingtonbiblechurch.com/lifesmostimportant.html