I noticed something unusual today as I was working around the house: I wasn’t really working at all. I wouldn’t call it work when I was making the spaghetti for dinner, because I was laughing and talking happily to my daughter the whole time. I wouldn’t call it work when I did the dishes, because I was singing a song the whole time. I wouldn’t call it work when I was vacuuming the carpets, because I was trying out a few dance steps as I pushed the vacuum along. I wouldn’t call it work when I was folding the laundry in the bedroom, because I had to stop in the middle and give my youngest son a good tickling when he tried to use the bed as a trampoline. I wouldn’t call it work when I was cleaning out the turtle’s aquarium, because I stopped to give the little, green swimmers a pet on the shell. I wouldn’t call it work when I walked my dogs, because I got to watch the sun come up in the morning, the stars twinkle in the evening, and my dogs play both times. I wouldn’t even call it work when I started writing this, because I was smiling the whole time thinking of the joy that it will give to so many who read it.

I think that when you bring your love and your joy to your work that it stops being work and feels more like play. I don’t think that God wants any of us to be unhappy in the work we do whether it is on a job or in our homes. God wants us all to be happy in our work and in our lives. God wants us to bring our love, our joy, our optimism, our enthusiasm, our energy, and our vitality to everything we do. God smiles on us, loves us, and wants us to make every part of our lives here on Earth as Heavenly as possible.

When you go to work today then remember to take your joy with you. When you live your life today remember to take your love with you. It is the love in your heart and the joy in your soul that make both work and life a delight.

Joseph J. Mazzella 
joecool@wirefire.com