Empty Mailboxes

Did you labor yesterday? For some people, Labor Day is a day of rest and time with family and friends. For others, Labor Day brings frustration in forms such as empty mailboxes, extra daycare expenses, and breaks in weekly routines. One day. Quite different reactions.

What is true for Labor Day is equally true for days such as Memorial Day, Alaska Day, Independence Day, and even Christmas Day.

So much depends on perspective.

So much depends on focus.

Take the mailbox, for example. If you tend to be self-focused, you grow frustrated at inconvenience. If you tend to be others-focused, you are happy for your USPS worker having a day off. (The same is true for Chick-fil-A employees on Sundays.)

Also think about the daycare situation. Could you (if you are a parent) use those same monies you would have paid for daycare to take a day off and treat your child(ren) to the zoo and to lunch?

In talking to Simon Peter, as recorded in John 21, Jesus basically tells the fisher of men to mind his own business (see vs 20-22). In His parable of the workers hired at different times during the workday, Jesus focuses on tending to one’s own work and reward (pay) rather than the efforts and per-hour rate of another laborer.

Fair? Not from a human perspective.
Good? Jesus said so.

Echoing the oft-spoken theme of Jesus, Paul wrote . . .

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Philippians 2:3-4 (NLT)
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

When I think in such ways, I find joy for others. When I fail to live that way, I protest (even if silently) “that’s not fair . . . why can’t I . . .”

Relate?

As you and I carry on with this week, let’s look after the interests of others. Be happy for others.

By the way, my calendar tells me that Grandparents Day is this coming Sunday. I don’t really know what that is; but, nevertheless, how convenient – we can practice living out today’s challenge on some grandparents in just a few days.

#ordinarylife