THE ULTIMATE GIFTS: DIGNITY IN LABOUR

Wisdom Nugget: "The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand."

Vince Lombardi

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius.

We began talking about "The Ultimate Gifts" a couple of days ago and we proceeded with the gift of work. I like to state here that no man, can ever make a living from his job, in other words, we do not work to earn a living, but we work to earn a giving. Working 8 hours daily isn't enough to give u a living, you're actually fulfilling destiny - doing exactly what God designed us for, whenever you wake up in the morning, go to work come back home and repeat the entire process. Just like He placed Adam in the garden to till and dress it, we are placed, by God in our different establishments, businesses and so on to re - enact the miracle of reproduction that God made Adam for originally. We must realize at this point that working is different from havin a job. The scriptures say to us, "he who does not work should not eat". Not he who does not have a job.

We should take pleasure in the work for which we have been called, for in it will we find our reward. We should love to work. It was Thomas A. Edison that said,"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." And Martin Luther King Jr. Put it thus, that, "all labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."

There's a story told of a wealthy man who employed his brother in law to build him a house. He explained that he and his family intended to travel to Europe for the summer. While there, he wanted this dream house built. The brother in - law agreed and set to work. As the building progressed, he decided to cut corners here and there by using inferior materials wherever he could cover them up after all, the rich man would never know the difference. In time the summer ended and the house was completed. Immediately he was taken out to the building site to look over the new house. After examining it carefully and admiring its elegance at some length, he said to the builder: "I'll tell you, it's lovely. In fact, you have done such a marvellous job that I'm just going to give it to you." Here are the keys to the building, its yours. You can imagine the dejected feeling of the brother-in-law when he knew that inferior workmanship as well as -inferior materials had gone into his house.

Unlike the brother-in-law who used substandard materials in his own house we should use the right materials to build our destinies by being diligent in our work, till the end.