Labor day is almost here: family gatherings, cookouts, swimming, shopping, fun and games, and NO WORK! This is the typical weekend for most of us celebrating Labor Day Weekend. Ask any of us what it means, and I’m sure the answers will vary. Do you know the true meaning of Labor Day? Waiting…
Well, if not, here’s a brief run down: The first Labor Day in the United States was celebrated on September 5, 1882 in New York City. It became a federal holiday in 1894, when, following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with the labor movement as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.*
Now re-read the paragraph above again. There should be something that sticks out to all of us, if not a few things. What sticks out to me is the fact that “deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals” during a labor strike. We celebrate a holiday every year due the deaths of people we never met or knew. Woohoo… A free day to shop, cookout and hangout with family and friends, yet people had to lose their lives for it to happen. Not that exciting now, huh? But we make our plans and go our ways without a thought to the true meaning of labor day.
How does this relate spiritually? Christ did the same, if not more, for each of us, including those who lost their lives to what we know to be Labor Day. Just as those people lost their lives, Christ set aside his own comfort so that God’s will could be fulfilled and that we could have comfort this very day, but more importantly, we could have access to eternal life. He labored for each us, long before we came into existence.
So, why not labor in worship and praise each and every day of our lives (not just one day out of a year) to give Him the ultimate glory?
*Source: Wikipedia — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day
The GOOD NEWS: God loves each of us so much that He has to save many of us from our very own destruction by allowing for trials and tribulations to bring us back into full relationship with Him. He misses each of us dearly when we make the decision to worship elsewhere, rather things beyond Him. 
