Toil, Toil, Toil
I get so focused on filling the hours in the day.
There is this spirit that you have to work 50, 60, 70+ hours. That your worth and value are attached to that. That if you don’t work that much, then there’s no way you can get ahead.
It’s easy to think that way. It’s easy to get stuck in a cycle that you have to be constantly producing or working. That time spent on something equates to value. It’s true in some regard. There are no shortcuts to life. But it’s not entirely true either.
Finding Value
The value of our work isn’t entirely determined by the time spent on it.
Someone could spend hours, days, months, or years on a task that leads to nothing. At another point in their life, they might spend five minutes on something that leads to a great idea that changes the world.
How do you know which is which? How do you get off the hamster wheel and focus on what’s truly important?
Toil almost seems to be a default state for me. I pray to God and ask for guidance, and often He gives it to me. But usually, as soon as I receive the wisdom, I turn and am right back to toiling again (ignoring God’s plan for my life).
Perspective
It’s good to work hard, but on my own accord and under my own wisdom, it will always be fruitless, no matter how it may appear to me or someone else. It’s been the biggest struggle of my life. Even by praying daily, I still find myself bucking against the goad.
I have to change my perspective. It’s not the hours in the day that are important. It’s how those hours are used.
God use me because you can do more in a second than I can in a thousand years.