One day—in heaven—work will be great.  

It is great now for various reasons.  The satisfaction of finishing a project.  The pleasure of solving a problem.  The thrill of earning a promotion.  But those joys often fade quickly as we shift to the next task, encounter the next hurdle, and envy the next rung on the ladder.  Will the climb, churn, or hustle ever stop?  

Maybe.  Probably not here.  

Because here, we have something to prove, families to feed, never enough money, disconnected work, and “Jim, I think you’re on mute” to overcome.  “We hardly need to mention ordinary sins such as gossip, moodiness, sandbagging, grasping credit for success, and shifting blame for failure.  To these humans add greed, deceit, pride, laziness, selfishness and a critical spirit [that all plague our work].” (see Doriani).  

But what if you could have the joys without swallowing the suffering?  

Let me paint you a picture.  

You finally have your dream job—not just the job that pays you the most money so you can experience the life you really want once you leave work.  No, this job uses all of your innate gifts.  This job piques your interest; you are constantly discovering new facets and features of the role.  Okay…and you are highly compensated.  Every time you see your direct deposit, your grin stretches your face—your family is safe, you enjoy rich food, and you never feel the pressure to stay after closing to finish a few unfinished tasks or check your phone at the dinner table.  Today, you finished the three tasks you set out to accomplish.  These were the tasks that you prioritized at the end of the day yesterday because you know how to plan ahead in this role.  You didn’t just finish the tasks today, you relished them.  Deep focused work.  Attention to the right details.  Midday, you had a healthy, energizing conversation with a friend who just happened to stop by—and you weren’t stressed about wasting your productive time.  After each task, you got immediate feedback from a boss or client that the work exceeded expectations and it was your best work to date.  But you already knew that would be the response; not in some arrogant way, but because you were made for this role, in this season, and you connected with the life-giving nature of what you were designed to do today.  You finished on time.  The commute home was perfect.  You were fully present and ready for the evening rest.  

Isn’t that a dream?  What if your work could always be this way?  How would it change our lives?

If you are like me, you get glimpses of this periodically.  Sometimes, I can write a contract that just sings with words, meeting the client’s every need.  Sometimes, I hit deep work and can focus on the right task at the right moment.  Those moments are good, energizing, fulfilling.  I even think, “I might have been created to work.”  

And then I remember, one day it will always be this way.  There will be no more mourning, no more crying.  (Rev. 21:4)  Nor pain, nor office gossip, nor IT outages.  No warmed up seafood in the breakroom.  No forced participation in office wellness programs.  No unreasonable expectations or impossible deadlines without sufficient resources.  No endless territory grabbing or undercutting.  “[F]or the former things have passed away.  And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’” (Rev. 21:4-5)  

This includes our work.  

Each day we will travel to the office, the garden, the jobsite.  (Hopefully on a cloud, but I doubt it.)  And we will live in the dream we have looked for—whether realizing it or not.  

One day our work will be beautiful.  It will be new.  We will delight in it.  I can’t wait.

[originally conceived 09/24]