Not a Waste

I limped back upstairs on my swollen toe to find that my daughters’ room was still covered in legos, wadded up clothes, and tiny plastic unicorns, in spite of my repeated patient reminders to clean up. I could see the laundry I had folded that morning jammed haphazardly into my sons’ drawers, which let me know it would’ve been a better use of my time to just throw my sons’ clean clothes straight at their heads. The bathroom I’d wiped down less than twenty-four hours earlier had gobs of toothpaste on it, and by the time I got downstairs again, there were slimy spoons in the sink along with partially rinsed yogurt containers.

To add insult to literal injury, the lesson plans I’d worked on had to be re-done due to a change in family scheduling; the blog post I’d shared had only been read by an even dozen, most of whom were related to me; the running streak I’d been on was disrupted by that pathetic toe, and the friendships I’d been trying to nurture would last another two months, tops, before we moved again.

It felt like all the things I’d been trying to do, from the insignificant to the important, were just a sweeping waste of time.

So I sat with this verse: “Your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV)

That’s right, I told myself. What I’m doing matters. My work is significant. If I just keep at it, I’m going to reap a reward. I’m going to see a return for my efforts. I’m working hard at this, so at some point this will pay off!

And then, of course, I realized how badly I was missing the point…because that’s not what the verse says.

Sure, if you get rid of the prepositional phrase (see my inner grammar nerd), it read, “Your labor is not in vain.” But really, that could mean any number of things. It could mean your work is worth something, or you’re not wasting your time with your efforts, or everything you’re doing is going to succeed.

But it doesn’t say that. That prepositional phrase is key. It’s not just “your labor.” It’s your labor in the Lord. And those three words answer the question of why my work isn’t a waste of time. 

If I’m laboring in the Lord, the point is not the well-trained children or the cleaned room or the viral blog post. It’s also not the lack of those things. The result of my work is never the goal. The relationship of my work is. 

When we labor in the Lord, Jesus is the reward. Any time we work in his strength, he is pulling us closer to himself. This is why it is never a waste of time, even when we don’t see the result of work that is sweated over, prayed about, bled upon. My labor is not in vain when it pushes me closer to Jesus because Jesus is the greatest blessing God has for us.

The examples I listed above were small ones. This still applies to the big ones.

Right now, our family is in the middle of a year-long assignment. We moved to this town in July. We’ll move out of it in June. During that space of time, we chose to join a church, get involved in our school community, meet our neighbors. Why? Is it because we have limitless amounts of energy or a desperate need to be with people? No. We are both tired introverts doing our best to wrangle five kids. But God reminds us again and again that we have been asked to love our neighbors, his image bearers, as ourselves, and that means doing hard work even when we will not see the reward. 

Or rather, when the best reward will be seen only in our hearts, between ourselves and our Savior.

Maybe you too have areas where you feel like you’ve wasted your time, areas where the work you put in has seemed worthy of far more than the result you received.

The friend you invested time and emotional energy in leaves your circle. The child you carefully raised and discipled walks away from you and your faith. You have to move from the community you’ve painstakingly built. The husband you gave everything to abandons you despite your best efforts. You’re fired from the job where you gave up weekends and vacations. The church you actively loved falls apart when you least expect it.

Was your labor in the Lord in vain? No. 

Still God’s promise holds true.

We have no idea what the future holds. The seeds we planted with our friends, our communities, our children, our husbands, our jobs, our churches may still bear fruit in visible ways. We just don’t know yet. 

But far more important is the effect of that faithful labor in the Lord on our own hearts.  Because we made that effort, took that risk, obeyed faithfully, our hearts are knitted more closely to Christ’s, even if they are currently breaking. It wasn’t a waste of our time. The fruit just looks different from what we expected. It is perhaps still just a flower, blossoming in our souls, providing a beautiful fragrance of joy for our Jesus…but it’s never a waste.