By Joseph J. Mazzella
I have had a lot of jobs over the last 30 years. I have bussed tables and washed dishes. I have mopped floors and carried out garbage. I have chopped wood and stacked lumber. I have shoveled sawdust and pushed a broom. I have substitute taught every grade from seniors to kindergarteners and every subject from English literature to Algebra. I have cared for the handicapped, first in a group home and then in my own home. I have worked with my brain. I have worked with my back. I have worked with my hands. I have worked with my heart. I have done everything I could to make a living so I could take care of those I love.
During those years of making a living, however, I realized something. I wasn’t making a life. I was earning money to feed my family, but I wasn’t feeding my own soul. I was doing enough to keep a roof over our heads, but I wasn’t doing enough to keep love in our lives. I was working hard to keep clothes on our backs, but I wasn’t working hard to keep God in our hearts.
When I realized this, I slowly began to not only make a living but also to make a life worth living. I began to pray more. I thanked God for my life and welcomed Him into my heart. I took more than just a second glance at a rainbow in the sky or to watch the sun rise in the morning. I hugged my children more. I laughed with them more. I told them I loved them more. I spend more time play with my dogs and petting my cats. I began to read more and watch television less. I allowed inspiration from above to take my own writing in a new direction and I delighted in writing about how much God loves us. I loved more from the depths of my heart and saw how the more love we share, the more joy we have. I took the time to help others in every way I could and to contribute to my community. I did everything I could to become a better person and along the way I realized that I was helping to build a better world. In making my life here I saw too that I was also making my life for the hereafter.
Don’t be so busy making a living that your forget to make a life. Bring your love to your days and your joy to your work. Be the Child of God you were meant to be and delight in this life you were given. Give the glorious gift of YOU to this world! If you do then you will have a life worth living. If you do you will have a love worth sharing. If you do you will have a Heavenly happiness in your soul, today, tomorrow, and forever.