Work

Work

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.

Psalm 90:17, NIV

I was amazed at the amount of space the word work is given in the dictionary—one and a half columns! But then I got to thinking that a whole lot of my life is spent working—giving physical or mental effort toward the production or accomplishment of some task or goal. I have invested hours of work in my children’s lives—nursing, feeding, holding, singing, dressing, reading, putting together puzzles, going to church, driving, hosting friends, cooking, praying, listening, talking, doing laundry, and providing music lessons. Those are all part of a mother’s work. Is it producing or accomplishing something? You bet! What a joy for a mom to see her children growing, maturing, and accomplishing things on their own.

It’s especially meaningful to think that my work has not only been aimed at the years of my children’s life spans. Because I am in relationship with the eternal God, my work has been aimed toward eternity. When I look, with gratitude, at the choices my sons are making in their late teens and early twenties, I understand a little bit of what it means to see my work established, as mentioned in the above verse. To establish something is to make it firm and secure, to place or settle it in a secure position or condition. As moms, that is the goal of our work.

No matter what stage of motherhood we’re at or how many mistakes we’ve made, we can pray that God will help us focus our work of motherhood on eternity.

Father,

May we realize that the work we do today has an impact on eternity. Amen.