Doing what you love:

Lately I've been quite busy in the evenings.  As it would turn out, I've been blessed to work on a writing project that is stretching my skill levels.  We have a deadline approaching, like the end of this month, yet time-wise I feel fine.  I told Tammy last night I could write all day long, but... if I never edited other people's writing again, that would be okay with me.  My mind was numb by about 10 p.m.  In other words, I enjoy writing, but going over someone else's material with a fine-tooth comb isn't so energizing to me...

I did fine for the first 100 or 120 pages of editing, but last night I ran out of steam.  Everything eventually seemed to be blurring together.  I found myself re-reading the same paragraphs several times, and then I decided to take a break.  Looking up correct spellings, tweaking the structure, checking facts, and catching homophones all caught up to me.  I hit it again for a while tonight with my mind refreshed, and I feel like in another week my part will all be wrapped up.

Jacob and I were driving tonight to "flock" someone with pink flamingos for the Relay for life, and I was thinking about the way I like writing and about how people in general do best when we do what we love.  Then out of the blue, Jacob was telling me that he heard there might be a new factory going up here in Kingsport.  My first thought was, I hope the company I work for takes a shot at doing the concrete!  The second thought I had was, I would like the consistency factory work would provide, but not the actual work.  Doing the same thing over and over again on an assembly-line would be tough for me.

Can you see the difference between building the factory and then working in it, at least from my perspective?  Constructing the factory is attractive to me, but the purpose/logistics of what takes place afterward bores me.  I could get my feet moving every morning building the factory, but by nature, I'd probably have a hard time finding the motivation to punch a clock there every day.  Why is this important?

The Bible says to find what you love to do, and work hard at it.   "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going." (Ecclesiastes 9:10 ESV)  Work, labor, occupation/vocation isn't a curse either.  God set Adam in the Garden to work the soil before he & Eve ate the forbidden fruit...  We were created to partner with God, not as inactive recipients of Creation, but active caretakers as well.

I guess I feel blessed.  I enjoy the work I do.  I like concrete a lot, and of course I enjoy working in ministry.  Being bi-vocational, i.e., being a tentmaker, is rewarding.  I don't need extra motivation or prodding to get me moving in the morning.  I think it would be torture to be employed in an area that you dreaded.  I think the search for finding a career that you love is nearly as important as selecting a spouse.