Labor – noun. productive activity, especially for the sake of economic gain.

I hope you have had a great start to your Labor Day weekend! We sure did. We spent it in Destin, FL with close friends for a storybook wedding on the Emerald Coast.

Today at 3:27pm we could not believe it was only 3:27. We had been at the pool for what seemed like an entire day and it had only been a few hours. We deemed it the longest best day ever…following the beautiful bride and groom’s Best Day Ever yesterday when they said, “I do.”

We talked and hung out by the pool with dear friends truly resting from what would normally have been a full, productive day’s work for us. Sundays are our biggest work day of the week and we are so excited that will be true again starting next week when our church will be back in person!!! Can. Not. Wait. Praying people return to the House of God! This great nation needs this to happen NOW more than ever in my lifetime! That’s for sure!!!! Please, if you physically can, go back to church. Your family needs you to and this nation needs you to.

As I thought of what to write today, I decided to look up the word Labor & just love this definition. I thought of our great nation filled with amazing productive laborers who are not lazy and work so hard for economic gain. And then I thought of those who don’t work and just want a hand out or have a false expectation of being entitled or taking the easy route riding on the coat tails of those who are determined to work hard for economic gain.

I began to think of where I came from and how hard my parents worked to provide for us and how they determined to be productive in their work, teaching us by their examples that even when you have very little and zero handouts from anyone, even with massive set-backs in life that are second to none, you can change your own life thanks to the American Dream that is alive and well for anyone who is willing to labor for it no matter where you come from. I remember hearing story after story my whole life of people who came from nothing and became mega successful. In our great nation anyone can become anything they want to be. I’ve seen this first hand. Poverty knows no boundaries of culture or background. And neither does success and economic gain.

Are things harder for some than others in all kinds of different ways? Yes. Most have no idea where I came from and how hard my parents had to work to overcome obstacles many have never faced. Yet we rose up out of poverty that tried to put us down through hardship. And today my Mom is wealthiest of us all on the streets of gold in heaven and the rest of us are so blessed more than we deserve. At least I know that’s true for me! So thankful for how good God has been to us!!!

Few Americans have lived in the midst of the level of poverty I have lived in in a third world country surrounded by lack on every side for five years. And yet I watched the Word of God work in people’s lives there and I saw them rise up out of poverty as they labored with honor and dignity. As they would engage in productive activity for economic gain, God would bless everything they put their hands to as He promises to do in His Word. It was beautiful to see them begin to prosper.

So for all of you who work an honest day’s labor each day, this day is for you. I honor you and your work ethic and I hope you will take a well-deserved break on this Labor Day. And for those who may not actually work but you stay productive, this day is for you, too! Rest! Enjoy! I hope you have as great a day as we did today laughing with friends, encouraging each other, and being completely unplugged. And let’s commit to rest from our labor weekly like the Ten Commandments tell us to do. For some of us, lazy is never the problem. It’s trusting God with our jobs and our finances enough to take a “Sabbath” each week! I know we live in the new covenant but if you read the Ten Commandments it’s still not a good idea to violate any of them. Somehow many of us have this “work hard” part down so much that it’s too much. So rest, and enjoy the most important thing in life today….the people you love!

Happy Labor Day!

Adrienne

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***XOXO