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

There is a gift in the hours we are able to work.  Here in the U.S. we take for granted the 40-hour work week as a standard, but that has not always been true.  Before the Industrial Revolution the only hours that we needed to work were enough to feed ourselves with food, water and to have things to trade for more that could feed and shelter us.  Thus, it was very individualized and could have been only a few hours a day.  When our efforts moved into factories the common workweek went over 70 hours a week with only one day off, to go to church and honor a Sabbath. By 1890 the U.S. Government released reports of people who worked in manufacturing plants being on the assembly line over 100 hours a week.  That was the average, so imagine what the top of the scale was?  It was Henry Ford who led the way for a 40-hour workweek in 1926 that spanned only 5 days in the week.  He was a smart person in that he created a work standard that benefited employees and his company at the same time.  He wrote this: “Just as the eight-hour day opened our way to prosperity in America, so the five-day workweek will open our way to still greater prosperity.”  And then he did something crazy at the time and gave everyone a minimum of $5/day so they could afford to buy one of the cars they built.  Henry Ford knew that with the right balance of hours and wages that any hour spent at work could also be a gift.  And it is today too.  When we don’t think it is, think of those around the globe who would give anything to be able to work.

God gave us the talents to make an hour of work more than just a duty or drudgery.  In fact, the hours we put in today is a gift.  If it wasn’t then might the talents, skills, knowledge that we have, not been given to us.  Let’s be appreciative and then do something willingly with our work to bring glory to Him!

Reference: Colossians 3:23 (New Living Translation)