"Just whistle while you work…..Hum a merry tune….When hearts are high the time will fly so whistle while you work.”
You are probably picturing Snow White happily sweeping the floor while the forest animals are washing dishes, dusting, and arranging furniture. I am pretty sure you don’t feel the same way sitting behind your desk listening to your Spotify playlist counting down the hours until your lunch break. Work can be long, boring, and sometimes painful. Mondays become the enemy and the weekend seem to leave too soon. You start to believe that you just need to find your purpose or your dream job. So what do you do? You spend countless hours trying to figure out your likes and dislikes, scrounging job sites, and going on countless interviews just to discover the same grass exist on both sides. After that pointless exploration, you buy into the idea of creating your own so you start a blog, website, or YouTube channel just to be in the same spot. Finally, you buy into self-help mantras to boost your esteem. They make you smile for a moment, but it never last. The restlessness always reoccurs. I totally get it. I have struggled most of my adult life finding true joy at my job. God has taught me the sweet secret of whistling while I work.
God has created us after His own image. God worked to create the world, and we have been commissioned to work in and over the world. (Genesis 1:28) When we don’t work, we often feel like we don’t have value. We have been created to work. The question is how do we “whistle” while we work? Sometimes a disdain for a job is an indicator that it is time to move on to something else. It is a time to go before the Lord in prayer, asking for His guidance. God gives us desires and holy ambitions that align with His greater plan. Holy ambitions meet a need in the world, is a form of love, and is not about self-exaltation.
Granted, there are times in life where we are exactly where we need to be and our disdain is a heart issue. (Matthew 15:18-19). During those times, we are hoping that our job gives us something that it wasn’t created to do. The human heart was made for joy and is constantly seeking for it. We believe our jobs, dreams, or careers should fulfill that void and they don't. Jim Carrey says, “I hope everybody could get rich and famous and will have everything they ever dreamed of, so they will realize that it’s not the answer.” If being rich, famous, or having everything I ever dreamed isn’t the answer, what is?
True joy is found in God, and I work for Him, love people because of Him, serve people because of Him, and a greater joy is received. Joy is not necessarily a temperament, but a position of the heart. We do this in many parts of life. For example, “I don’t like washing dishes, but I love my roommate so it is my pleasure to allow her to come home to a clean kitchen.” We can whistle while we work not because we are working or even love it, but who we are working for. Over time work becomes worship because we are renewing our mind with God’s truth. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:23-24 ESV)
Lift your eyes up, dear girl, for a greater joy.
By Jharmaine Boyd
