Excellent Standard

God blessed the seventh day…
because on that day he rested from his work.

Genesis 2:4 (The Message)

The significance of the first Monday of September has lost its original glory. Somewhere along the years its meaning was forgotten replacing it with sheer relief for the “long” weekend. As a tribute to the workers who labored for the “well-being” of our country, Labor Day, was established. It takes, after all, hard work to do anything well.

God labored for the “well-being” of his creation. During each creative season he put together all that would make for a perfect, cohesive, and well planned universe. No detail was left out even giving “man” the strength to carry on the “well-being” of God’s creation. And when each of God’s “days” was finished he knew that his labors had produced something good.

Each day as we go to our work, school, volunteer positions or whatever task to which we put ourselves can we say, at the end of the day, “it is good.” God set a work standard when he created the world—excellent. It’s a high, demanding standard but it has been passed along to us as well, his creation.

Working and striving for excellence in whatever we do is a tribute, a “Labor Day” as it were, to our Creator. The world watches to see if our speech matches with our behavior and unfortunately it too often finds us falling short. Remembering and acting on the standard of excellence that God established will be crucial in our ability to communicate to others in God’s creation that we mean what we say and we do it with excellence.

Creative God, thank you for your excellent creation.

Help me to live each day, with the strength
you give me, to strive for excellence
and be a living example of your work.Amen.