I Love My Job!

June 18, 2022

Now that I have retired from being a pastor in the United Methodist Church, I’ve got to come to an understanding of what “work” is. Is it something tiresome, something to dread?

Back in June of 2019, I retired for the first time. I stopped working. I was on Medicare, I started drawing Social Security, and my pension arrived in my bank account on the first of each month. That’s how retirement works, right?

For me there was a catch: God called me to a new job, writing Christian novels. The money was not enough to live on, but I had other income.

After a year of retirement, I was asked to take a job as part-time pastor for two small churches. I prayed about it, then accepted. Was it work? It fit the definition of regular hours and regular paychecks.

If I assume that was work, what am I doing now, since I’ve concluded my two years serving the two churches? Writing novels is not regular hours or paychecks. Hmm.

What is work? Webster defines work as “activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something.”

Hey! That means it can be fun and rewarding! It doesn’t depend on paychecks or regular hours. Therefore, I have decided that my job of writing Christian novels is going to be something that fills me with life. I am doing what God has called me to do. I’m in the right place in my relationship to God.

For my own benefit, I’ll need the discipline of regular hours and a set minimum amount of production. I’ll need to keep improving and keep studying my craft.

Why should work need to be toilsome? If you’re doing it in a way that pleases God, then let the good times roll!