Why Living for the Weekend is No Way to Live

Last Friday, I sat on the couch looking out across the choppy yet beautiful waters of Lake Erie. The week had been chilly, by August standards, yet wonderful, and I was starting to sink into the doldrums which naturally accompany the waning moments of a summer vacation. They come rarely and fly by quickly. Oftentimes, the anticipation can be the best part because you often don’t even realize that the trip has already wrapped up. I was starting to think of all the regular responsibilities of daily life that awaited my wife and me immediately upon return home. It’s funny how melancholy the last moments of a good time can be, isn’t it?

But as I recognized myself falling into this common reaction, I was left asking myself a question... Is this really how I should approach the seasons life throws at me? It can be so easy for us as humans to view work, routines, and responsibilities as mere vehicles that deliver us to the end destinations of days off, the weekend, and vacations. But if we fall into this trap, we are left with really quite a sad and disappointing approach to life. We will view only 2 out of 7 days as good ones, and only 7-14 of 365 days in the same way. This leaves us prioritizing, yearning for, maybe even idolizing tiny pieces of the entire life we have been gifted with. What would it look like to approach life in a different way? Seeing the value, and more significantly, the joy in every moment. Let’s talk about that.

In order to see the fruit of the positive option, we must first look at the reality of the more common negative view. Surely you have heard phrases such as live for the weekend or it’s Friday somewhere. These truly reveal the mindset most of us probably fall into, where we prioritize certain times of our lives well above other parts. These usually happen to be the times of leisure and recreation, which become pitted against the times of work and labor. Because of this understandable habit we fall into, we end up highlighting and looking forward to a mere 48/168 hours we get per week. That is not just a lot of time we overlook or maybe even disdain, that is the vast majority of it! No wonder we end our weeks burnt out and then are left at the end of vacations and weekends feeling as if they were short. They are short! The times we like the most will feel brief when we only value and find joy in a fraction of the life that has been set before us. But what do we do, how can we see more value and worth in everyday life? Because the bottom line is that many of us, if not most of us, probably do not have our “dream job,” and many of us might feel as if our day-to-day is full of more hardship than blessings. How can we escape this mindset trap?

Well, in response to this, I am not simply going to say, “Change your mindset! Be more joyful!” Because life is not that easy. It is hard to change the way we see things, and even harder when we are set in our ways. However, I do think there is hope. There is significance in this life, significance in the mundane as well as the magnificent. I think we can begin to come to terms with this truth when we look at the very fabric of humanity.

We were made to be fellow participants in the building up of God’s kingdom, and work is the natural responsibility of God’s co-workers.

Look back to the very beginning, the origin of humanity, where God breathed life into Adam and Eve. What was their first assignment? What was their day-to-day life like, even BEFORE the fall? Here is what might surprise us. In pre-fall perfection, Adam and Eve were not sitting on lounge chairs at the golf club; they were not merely wading in the cool waters of a beach. They were called to something of actual worth and value. They were God’s first co-workers. Following God’s creation of the world, there is now a beautifully intricate place for humanity to inhabit. And who does he bestow the honor of care on? Us. Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it”. God looked upon the creation, which was good, and decided that we should not just be another display item, but instead a participant with real roles of significance.

While our jobs, careers, and pursuits may not all be gardening-related today. In some way, they all play a part in the original stewardship God tasked us with. We have a part to play, a role to fill, and value to add. We were not created as consumers whose end goal is unhindered consumption. When that becomes our idol, we lose out on the original design God had for us. So, in your work, whether it is in an office cubicle or at home, what are you adding, who are you helping, what are you building? God called us to be a piece of his kingdom, a part of the good he orchestrates. Our misunderstanding of work, our pinning it down as a mere burden, misidentifies the opportunity it allows for us to be participants with God.

In 1 Corinthians 3:9, the author states, “for we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building”. In what way can your work be a part of God’s? Who do you have influence over? Who do you serve? The opportunities work allows us to have are not just financial, but they are greater than that. Realizing the dignity of work and the labor of our day-to-day, starts a paradigm shift in our lives. We have not ‘made it’ once we reach the weekend, vacation, or retirement. We ‘make it’ once we realize the opportunity to be a co-worker in God’s good work. Once we come to terms with this, we realize that all 168 hours are worth something, not just the 48.