{"id":1295,"date":"2011-08-01T22:51:07","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T02:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=1295"},"modified":"2011-08-01T22:51:07","modified_gmt":"2011-08-02T02:51:07","slug":"good-feelings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/08\/good-feelings.html","title":{"rendered":"Good feelings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Exhaustion after a day of hard, physical\u00a0work may be one of the best feelings there is.\u00a0 There is a great misunderstanding that when Adam and Eve sinned and they were driven from the garden, they were made to work.\u00a0 In fact, the ground was cursed; not the work.<\/p>\n

Adam was told by God “Fill the earth and control it.\u00a0 Rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the air.\u00a0 Rule over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).\u00a0 Then in Genesis 2:13 we are told, “The man had the work of planting and caring for the garden.”\u00a0 That denotes work.\u00a0 I personally believe that their main purpose was to be friends with God;\u00a0but before the fall a God-given desire was placed in us at creation to produce, care for; and nourish.\u00a0 That sounds like work.<\/p>\n

After he had sinned, Adam was sentenced to extremely hard labor that produced little results.\u00a0 The ground would produce thorns and weeds.\u00a0 To be able to eat, we must have food but yielding crops is no longer productive work.\u00a0 Storms, droughts and floods have plagued farmers for all time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet, we are still left with the joy of hard work.\u00a0 Work remains one of the most satisfying\u00a0features of our lives. That is why men and women become seduced by the lucious, extravagant\u00a0feelings and become work-a-holics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I’ve always felt sorry for people who aren’t able to find joy in their chosen occupation.\u00a0 The young man who cuts my yard is a prime example.\u00a0 He cuts yards for a living<\/em>; and it’s pretty obvious that he hates it.\u00a0 Last week he informed me that he would no longer cut a small portion of my yard that I’d asked him to keep trimmed.\u00a0 I laughed and said, “Yes, you will or you won’t be cutting my yard any longer.”\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“Fine,” he said and left pouting.\u00a0 On the other hand, this week a man with “Landscape Expert” painted on his truck rode by my house.\u00a0 He was checking on a yard down the street.\u00a0 All he gets paid to do is mow; but he is constantly doing little extra things that enhance the yard.\u00a0 Those tiny touches\u00a0never take more than a moment; but they show that he cares about the work he does.\u00a0 I suspect that this man goes home\u00a0most nights with\u00a0a feeling of satisfaction.\u00a0 If there had been a phone number on his truck, I would have called him for an estimate.<\/p>\n

Today, I completed several ongoing projects that have lurked in the horizon\u00a0since my husband died.\u00a0 While all the legal matters were finished within a couple of weeks, there were household and outdoor projects left\u00a0dormant while he was sick.\u00a0 Now they’ve been finished.<\/p>\n

I’m physically tired to the bone; but emotionally, I’m happy and satisfied.\u00a0 Some people say that for Christians the curse has been completely removed.\u00a0 Sure we live in a fallen world; but we live above the fall.\u00a0 On evenings like this, as I sit with a big glass of iced tea, I’m convinced that\u00a0this must be truth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exhaustion after a day of hard, physical\u00a0work may be one of the best feelings there is.\u00a0 There is a great misunderstanding that when Adam and Eve sinned and they were driven from the garden, they were made to work.\u00a0 In fact, the ground was cursed; not the work. Adam was told by God “Fill the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,40,186,49,12,4],"tags":[21,688,699,715,701,692,6],"class_list":["post-1295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-religion","category-simple-truths","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-religion","tag-simple-scriptural-truths"],"yoast_head":"\nGood feelings - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/08\/good-feelings.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Good feelings - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Exhaustion after a day of hard, physical\u00a0work may be one of the best feelings there is.\u00a0 There is a great misunderstanding that when Adam and Eve sinned and they were driven from the garden, they were made to work.\u00a0 In fact, the ground was cursed; not the work. 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