Why do you go to work everyday?

Guest post by Emma Grace Pope (age 12) 

Why do you go to work everyday?

Is it for the paycheck? Is it so you’ll look good among others? Or maybe it’s because you just really like working.

Recently I was in a play, and I worked really hard to memorize my lines. I was working hard on my lines so I would please my teacher and my parents. Being young, I had a lot of pressure coming from my teacher, my parents, and seeing others with their lines memorized made me want to memorize mine even more! The promise of a prize to the one who memorized their lines first put me in a rush to get them memorized. I didn’t want to have to open that script on stage. Well, I didn’t get the prize, and I gave up hope on memorizing my lines as fast as others did. When I did look at my script, I did it half-heartedly. I would run through the lines really quickly and not even care what I was saying, as long as I memorized what I was supposed to say. My top goal was to be a star student so people would be proud of me. I wanted to look as good as the people who already had their lines memorized. For some strange reason, my lines just wouldn’t get stuck in my head. That’s when I realized I must be doing something wrong.

Then one day, I was looking for cool backgrounds on Pinterest and came across one that had a Bible verse on it. It had Colossians 3:23 on it: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord.” Suddenly I realized why I just couldn’t seem to do as good as others. I was working for people, not for the Lord. And I certainly wasn’t doing it with all my heart. This verse really helped me to figure out why I should be doing all that work. I should be doing it as if I was working for the Lord. When I got that new perspective, my lines suddenly became memorized and I started to really enjoy getting up on the stage and doing my very best at my part. I know that this verse will help others to figure out why they’re working. Not for others, not to look good, and not for the paycheck, we should be working for the Lord.