Is Your Work Time “Leisure” or “Toil”?

Leisure time…what does that even mean for us in today’s time?  For me, I picture myself, with my “special” someone, relaxing someplace warm with a great view, great service, nice tropical breezes blowing, waves are crashing on the shore and I do not have a care in the world. Does that sound like leisure to you?  Some of you may picture a similar image with a few modifications made to my picture, but non-the-less, I do believe we all get that idea of leisure. Dictionary.com defines it as “time free from the demands of work or duty, when one can rest, enjoy hobbies or sports, etc; unhurried ease”.  So that would mean all the time we are not working or fulfilling a dutiful obligation, we are using leisure time, correct?  But surely work or fulfilling obligations can also be leisure?  I know that I enjoy my work, at least most parts of it.  One of the definitions for work on Dictionary.com is “exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil”.   I do believe that last word “toil” meaning “hard and continuous; exhausting labor or effort”, as defined by Dictionary.com, is not something most of us want to do all day and for most of us, may not be referred to as leisure. Managing our time (since we only have so much of it) is one of the most important activities a person can do and should do each day.  What we do during our time, whether its work, leisure, labor, toil or rest, we are responsible for what we do with our time.  In 2 Thessalonians 3:10, the Bible says, “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat”.  Also the Bible states in Genesis 2:2 “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work”.  So clearly, we are to work and rest. If God takes time to rest, I do believe we should follow suit. After all you know what they say about all work and no play?  But it would appear that God worked six days, even Saturday, and then took one day off to rest…so if you enjoy what you do, as I believe God did when He worked, you still need to take time to rest. In this basic overview of the week above it would appear that we have approximately 32 hours to spend on our leisure time activities, whatever they are.  Obviously, it may vary quite a lot per individual, their obligations and by what they think of as leisure or work time.  I simply want to show that almost all our time is either work or leisure time and that it is important not to waste any of it, but use all the time we have on activities that refresh us. The simple fact is if you enjoy your work or think of it as leisure (at least parts of it, like I do), you may have much more refreshing leisure time than you think, so enjoy it all.  In the Bible, Ecclesiastes 8:15, King Solomon wrote, “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.  Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun”. Spend your time at work doing something you enjoy and it may become a leisure activity that refreshes you and brings you much enjoyment and you may feel you actually do not work at all.   Gary J Kiecker LifeLongU.com