Hey guys! I don't post on this blog super often as of late. I am very pro-balance — if you need a break, take a break. Especially when it comes to creative endeavors like photography — more force or aggressiveness toward yourself to meet goals that may not be well suited to your health, needs, or life may not be what God wants you to do.
What if you have worth beyond the work you do? It's really a very Communist idea that we are all just little workers who only have worth based on our output. God never sees us that way. You are one of God's creative ideas — He invented you in love. You are not merely some "little worker" before Him — you are His child that He created in love.
Your worth is not measured by your work or by a completed to-do list or by a performance review. Instead, your value is forever fixed in your Creator whose love for you is changeless. Don't allow popular cultural dysfunctions to lead you to overwork to prove your worth. Feminism in particular leads women to conclude we are only significant if we work ourselves into the ground, ignoring any stress, health problems, or spiritual issues that may result when we pursue goals with unhealthy ferocity.
May God set us all free from the mindset that our worth is only found in what we do, when in fact our worth is based in who we are — God's prized creations that He made for His own pleasure and in His image. I give you permission to remove yourself from the rat race of unhealthy competition, and to instead find rest in God alone, who knows your heart so well. That's the only way any of us will ever do any work that has actual eternal value.
Our work can be an actual waste — even when we hit predecided targets or deadlines — if it is not truly about bringing God glory. If all we care about is our own reputation, resume, or how the people around us perceive our work, then the effort we are putting in will ultimately be devoid of eternal meaning. God wants me to work from a place of peace. He knows me. He knows my efforts and work. He knows my heart. That is enough. Even if others may judge you or choose to look upon you negatively.
I can create photography (and do other kinds of work) that don't come from chronic frazzle and stress —I can find extraordinary peace in God Himself and do each task for Him, thereby my work not only matters in this world but is also creating fruit that will matter for eternally glorifying God.
Today is actually my twenty-seventh birthday! One of the most important lessons I have taken from my twenties is that we have to work unto God and not unto man. We have to complete the tasks on our to-do list (and sometimes be willing to throw out our tasks if they are not actually what God wants us to do) before an audience of One.
God is such a good dad to me. He sees when I need to lean in and challenge myself a little more — He'll call me out by the power of the Holy Spirit when this is necessary if I'm careful to listen to His prompting. He's also the kind of dad who reaches in and tells me to stop if I'm going too hard — exerting a strong effort but in a way that will ultimately be fruitless before Him — leading me back into a season of quiet and rest at times. He does all this because He is a loving parent. He doesn't exasperate His kids. He always strikes the perfect balance of challenging us to grow when we need it, and calling us to rest when a season of pause is necessary.
I didn't always value this balance when I was younger. It was actually a lesson that most hit home after working in an environment at a past job. They pushed themselves too hard to meet steep goals without enough staff — causing preventable burnout, turnover, and new-onset mental and physical health problems in the team members. It was in this environment that the lesson finally settled in my heart. When we set goals and create projects to be done based on fear or based on how others will see us, our work is as hay, stubble, and wood.
"According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).
