Daily Delight

We live in a society where work tends to have two perspectives on opposite parameters of a shared coin. On the one hand, work is an inevitable, bleak, often joyless means to an end. Supporting a lifestyle with typical expense and leisure, work is just necessary whether satisfying or not. On the other hand, some view work as what should be one of the most fulfilling, joyous and satisfying elements of day-to-day life. Greater emphasis is put on pursuing your passions in a career to experience a blissful punch clock of work that doesn’t feel like work. Either way the coin is flipped, the same root of either perspective remains: satisfaction.Whether loathing or loving your vocation, it’s inept that we equate our work to a degree of value and contentment in our lives. And while the tension of fulfillment in our careers is no doubt a birthing pain of a sinful, fallen world, it encourages my heart to know that work existed before sin ever did. And God created work for good! In Genesis 2, after God forms Adam, scripture tells us in verse 15 that He places man in the garden to work it and take care of it. This first account of work was not designed that man might be satisfied but rather that God would be honored.After creating a perfect garden, God saw it fit to offer a shared enjoyment of His creation and a partnership in the labor of tending to His beauty. And the same is true today! Work can be depleting and poorly satisfying if viewed in the shadows of our own agendas. God has divinely placed each of us in our own individually crafted corners of the world with the purpose of partnership with Him in making His beauty and glory known around us! For satisfaction in your field, maybe a career change isn’t in order. Maybe a heart change is!

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” -Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)

About the Author

Bryanna Irvin

Bryanna is an infectiously extroverted 26-year-old born and raised Arkansas gal with a knack for conversation and heart chats. She is married to her college sweetheart, Blake, but falling more in love each day with her newest heartthrob: baby boy Emmett who is due this October. Her passion is for cultivating relationships new and old with hopes of sharing any inkling of the joy, peace and purpose she herself has found through her relationship with Jesus Christ. Though she’d gladly hop on the first flight to Haiti and never look back, God has so assuredly called her to use her gifts and passions to minister to young and college aged women through her position as a retail store manager.

When she isn’t working or maneuvering her social calendar, Bryanna can undoubtedly be found cuddled up in her Jonesboro home with her five, yes five, fur babies, a pepperoni pizza and “Friends” reruns on loop!