The Plumbline

Well-spoken words bring satisfaction; well-done work has its own reward. (Proverbs 12:14) Words and work - both can be done well, or both can be done without thinking. Think your words before you speak them and you are likely to reap a harvest closer to what you desired, not a reactionary and hostile response in return. Think through your work, planning carefully each step you must take, and you will likely end up with the results you desire. Be lazy with either your words or your work and the outcome will be less than desirable. John F. Kennedy reminded us that gratitude is good, but "we must never forget the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." We are to live by our words - so we must be very, very careful what words we utter! John C. Maxwell tells us that people "hear our words but feel our attitude". What are your words revealing about your inner attitude right now? Remember, you can attempt to conceal with 'just the right words...

9  What do people really get for all their hard work?   10  I have seen the burden God has placed on us all.   11  Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.   12  So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.   13  And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.   (Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 NLT) There are always going to be days when we just look at whatever we are doing and wonder if it is all worth it. This is just a human reaction to stuff when it gets a little harried and difficult to go through. We want to know whatever it is we are "enduring" is going to somehow be worth it. I have taken on projects that physically tax my body - only to wonder half-way through why in blazes I ever started the ta...

I know there is nothing better for us than to be joyful and to do good throughout our lives;  to eat and drink and see the good in all of our hard work is a gift from God.   I know everything God does endures for all time. Nothing can be added to it; nothing can be taken away from it. We humans can only stand in awe of all God has done.    What has been and what is to be—already is. (Ecclesiastes 3:12-15 VOICE)   Hard work - we use that term to describe the fruitful endeavors of our hands, the back-breaking labor of our energies exerted in some task needing to be finally accomplished, and the exhaustion of our minds as we settle back to rest our weary bodies after a long day at the "salt mine" we call "work".  Hard implies we had to put some effort into it - maybe it was more than just physically fatiguing because it was troublesome for us to accomplish.  I have undertaken some projects on occasion which game me more headaches and soreness in my mus...

I had a conversation with a person the other day who has retired and finds himself just a little "cooped up" in the house these days.  He isn't really that unique to some who have no specific "function" to perform once they retire. Many will recount how much they looked forward to retirement - hoping for lazy days, leisurely coffee in the mornings, and an occasional trip abroad to explore places on their "bucket list".  Then in almost the next breath, you will begin to hear this "hint" of remorse because retirement isn't working out as they planned.  Either they lost the one they hoped to spend all that time with, or they seem a little bit "lost" because they have more time on their hands than they counted on.  The truth is God made us to "work", not retire.  The first definition for "retire" in the dictionary usually refers to this process of "going away or apart", as in to withdraw.  It takes a co...

We are always looking to "gain" something in this life, aren't we?  We may not want to gain a few extra pounds, but we want to gain interest on our savings, or gain the advantage over someone else in a game of tennis.  We look for the "ins" and "outs" of each encounter, knowing full-well the position of power we have when we know how it is we will gain the advantage.  Our minds just calculate things that way - what is it I will gain by being involved in this, giving this to that, or bringing what I have into the mix.  Pretty seldom do we just get up in the morning and say with determined confidence that we will just go about the day "doing" whatever God wants, "giving" wherever he asks us to give, and "moving mountains" for someone else.  We get up, prepare to go off to work, and then plunge headlong into whatever it is we call our "work".  What we fail to recognize is the significance of our work - we see our w...