“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”

If we work in a “white-collar” role, we aren’t often called upon to work a double-shift.  We might think we are doing so when we work up to 12 hours, but it’s not the same as a true double-shift of 16 hours.  16 hours of work with travel back and forth on both ends leaves little rest or anything else before the next day of work. If you have ever worked true double-shifts before you know what I am talking about.  In a summer shipyard welding job I had during college there was one week where I worked four double-shifts in a row.  It was brutal.  Some of these were voluntary, but like most double-shifts that happen for those who are on the clock, some were mandated without prior planning. So, what is supposed to be on the calendar gets cancelled.  Working at the direction of others is not easy as it is, but having one’s hours doubled is always hard to accept. There has been tons of development done to create scheduling and work demand tools and technology, but when it all comes down to it, this type of managing is about whether or not the manager/supervisor wants to schedule like this, or doesn’t.  No piece of technology can replace an attitude or a philosophy.

Not every day is an easy day in our spiritual journey.  Mondays can sometimes be the hardest because we leave the weekend so “up” and committed and then comes the first weekday when we are faced with the same problems, people and obstacles that we left on Friday.  And by Monday night it feels like we have worked our first physical and spiritual double-shift.  But, it’s okay.  We are taught to work for people as willingly as we would for the Lord.  When we do, and we rely on God to bring us through those areas that tend to trick us up or set us back, we are given all that we need to make it through. We just need to receive what God is constantly handing to us to receive.

Reference: Colossians 3:23 (New Living Translation)