For several years I was buried in a cave. Not literally mind you! My windowless office just seemed like a cave. So when I received a new workspace with a big plate glass window, I was living large! My shades were rarely drawn. Day after day I watched the world unfold before my eyes. And God usually had a lesson for me in what I saw. The day described below was no exception…Three Hispanic workers arrived outside my pane of glass today. They showed up yesterday too. I don't know their names; they never acknowledged my presence. They didn't even look my way. But they had a message for me from God.
Yesterday they dug a ditch and I had a front row seat. Today I supervised their lunch break. No big deal, right? Wrong! The lesson wasn't in what they did, but in how they did it. When the shovel hit the sand, it was no frantically carved furrow. In fact, there was a carefree cadence to their efforts. Not laziness, but lightheartedness! When they broke for lunch, it became a thirty-minute fiesta; Latin music from the radio danced between their conversation and laughter. Smiles brightened the afternoon. This was a gathering of friends. The scene was refreshingly simple: three men enjoying God’s good gift. Solomon describes this:
Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat well, drink a good glass of wine, and enjoy their work--whatever they do under the sun--for however long God lets them live. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life--that is indeed a gift from God. People who do this rarely look with sorrow on the past, for God has given them reasons for joy." (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 NLT)
My teachers’ wordless lecture spoke volumes about the importance of enjoying God's gift of life. I studied their relaxed faces. I listened to their laughter. I considered their unwillingness to be driven by their ditch.
As I took it all in, God had a question for me: Tommy, have you stopped to enjoy life or are you a slave to the "ditch" you are digging? Good question! Could it be that the enjoyment of the "ditch" is what keeps us out of it?
STAY FOCUSED TODAY:Slow down and enjoy life. Find the joy in the journey. Go out for lunch or stop to call a friend. Enjoy the work, not just the completion of it. When you see some roadside workers, stop and thank God for the simple gift--the gift of life.