Work is the inevitable satisfaction of everyone who has the energy and the will to make a constructive contribution to human welfare.  Labor for the law-abiding citizen is a part of his or her patriotic dream for a better country.  One's career is a way of fulfilling the need to be a participant and not a spectator of life.  There is a sense in which our work focuses upon God and country as well as ourselves.  We work for God because it gives Him pleasure to see us utilize all the creative possibilities He has placed within us.  He dreams for us a kind of success in every endeavor that will enhance His productivity on earth.  He chooses to have no hands but our hands to labor in His vineyard of good will and human achievement.  It is God's will that every able body and mind work to its peak performance.

There is also a sense in which we work for our country.  Our land cannot be strong without the productive input of every citizen.  When leisure and pleasure become an obsession, the strength of our nation is severely compromised.  We lose a part of our economic soul when the talents and energies of some lie dormant.

Furthermore, there is a big sense in which we work for ourselves.  In no better way can we realize our deepest dreams than through the skills with which we have been endowed.  By the sweat of our brows we know the sweet satisfaction of being involved in life.  God has given us no greater function in life than to graciously participate in that which we call work.  It is only through honest toil that even our rest can find its fullest meaning.  Let us, therefore, celebrate the gift of work and the resulting opportunity to know the inner peace of genuine fatigue.  God's work ethic always ends with "well done thou good and faithful servant."