Embracing Hard Work as Sacrifice

The last 24 hours have been quite tiring. I had a barbeque today at my house. Most of my family was there and it was a fantastic and relaxing time. My family is wonderful, and it was a real joy to host the last barbeque of the summer, and right on Labor Day. I am deeply blessed to have them in my life.

But back to the tiring part: I spent all of last evening and all of today up until 4 p.m. prepping, and cooking, and baking, and cleaning, and setting up, etc. It was very tiring and very hard, especially on the feet. Part of today I was working with a bad headache from dehydration because I would forget to stop and drink some water. It was a hard day's work.

But I only reflect back on how tiring it was, as I didn't think about my discomfort at all while I was preparing everything for the barbeque. I was driven while I worked. Driven by how nice things will look after I finish my tasks. Driven by how much I wanted to make my family comfortable and well-fed and happy. Driven by God re-enforcing positive affirmations about accomplishing my goals. But mostly driven by just how much I love my family.

I could have given up because of the overwhelming number of things I had to do. I could have given up because I was tired and sore. I could have given up on trying to put on this barbeque because I would much rather rest on Labor Day.

What I did by working so hard was to sacrifice for my family. I gave up my resting on Labor Day to make a happy and wonderful time for my family. And it was a wonderful time. My sacrifice of hard work was very much worth it, as I love my family dearly. It was a blessing.

So next time you are feeling overwhelmed and pained by hard work, just think of it as a sacrifice for the good of another. And if you embrace the sacrifice fully, you will feel blessed by God to allow you to make a sacrifice, as sacrifices count positively with God. Embrace hard work, embrace sacrifice, embrace God.