Thinking of Work as a Beautiful Gift from God!
“So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.”
In a year when we were required to stay at home, school at home, and work at home because of a global pandemic, it also meant job loss and business closings for many. Through this time, a growing awareness and appreciation of the daily blessings of food, housing, employment, and safety - things that have been impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic and civic unrest - will hopefully develop as we live each day. Seeing needs can be overwhelming. It is also good to remember that each person is designed ( and capable) to do something each day that will build up, restore, move forward, exercise faith, serve, and make a difference - as God directs.
At The Dwelling Place, we recognize God’s provisions as precious blessings for the women and children who find shelter in our homes. For those who escape domestic abuse, safety, shelter, and food are needed. But, for women who desire to experience an abuse-free life, employment that provides for their needs and those of their family is a hard-won victory! A single woman and parent must be able to sustain her family to provide housing, food, health care, and transportation. To be able to provide for these things through work is a Gift, indeed. We see women make and achieve this goal, but it comes with courage and commitment, determination and conviction that living free of abuse is one part of living with hope and faith, to thrive in the strength and protection of God’s power.
We give glory to God for the gift of Work and the results that come as work is faithfully completed!!
(The following excerpts are taken from https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/labor-day)
“Labor Day 2020 will occur on Monday, September 7.
Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers and is traditionally observed on the first Monday in September. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day weekend also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans, and is celebrated with parties, street parades and athletic events.
Why Do We Celebrate Labor Day?
Labor Day, an annual celebration of workers and their achievements, originated during one of American labor history’s most dismal chapters.
In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages. People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.
The idea of a “workingmen’s holiday,” celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it. Congress would not legalize the holiday until 12 years later, when a watershed moment in American labor history brought workers’ rights squarely into the public’s view.
In the wake of this massive unrest and in an attempt to repair ties with American workers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed it into law. More than a century later, the true founder of Labor Day has yet to be identified.
Many credit Peter J. McGuire, cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, while others have suggested that Matthew Maguire, a secretary of the Central Labor Union, first proposed the holiday.“