Thoughts on Work

I've been working full time over half my life. With the exception of one job, I've liked my various positions, but I would hardly call them fullfilling. In my dreams I see myself in many other roles - wife and mother, Animal Shelter owner, Academy Award winning actress, World Famous Rock star...those would be fullfilling. But as I was reading Genesis the other day I noticed something I'd never seen before in all these years (and I've read Genesis more than any other book due to my many attempts to Read the Bible in a Year). Adam worked. Eden, the perfect place - and Adam still had to work. God told him to cultivate the garden. That was Adam's job. So many people (myself included) think of Eden as a place of leisure. Adam and Eve walking around with God, lounging in the tall green grass eating approved fruit, taking lots of naps. But Adam worked. Adam's work became difficult when sin entered the picture. Suddenly work became a hard, sweat-of-the-brow, back-breaking proposition. This places my own job fullfillment (or unfullfillment) in a new light. I won't ever find total fullfillment at any job here on earth, even the position of wife and mother. How could I ever expect it in this fallen world? Sure, some jobs are better than others; some days better than others. But true fullfillment - that's still to come.