July 24th, 2025 - Pleasurable Labor

A couple of days before our wedding, I somehow ended up having a conversation with one of Imani’s bridesmaid’s about my personal devotional time which happened to be in the book of Ecclesiastes. “Ecclesiastes?” she responded, “I would’ve thought you’d want to be reading something more like the ‘Song of Solomon’ before your wedding.” Well, taken a little aback by her comment, I started to reflect on relevant the stories were feeling considering my season.

“There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.” (Ecclesiastes 2:24)

Essentially, in a book riddled with comments about vanity, this verse stuck out to me like a sore thumb. Finding joy in one’s labor is a gift from God. And when I tell you, after planning and figuring out wedding logistics, and post wedding logistics, and housing things, and work things, I began to feel those words in Ecclesiastes, that maybe all this hard and burdensome work is meaningless and destined to be forgotten by my great great great grandchildren.

Yet, in spite of that probable reality, after reading that verse in Ecclesiastes, my mindset shifted. Rather than worrying about the potential outcomes and stressors that could (and did) come up during and after the wedding, I felt invited by the scripture to look at the “right now” and find pleasure in the labor. For instance, rather than viewing the preparation as frustrating and annoying with a means to an end, I started finding pleasure in the labor itself, be it decorating flyers or talking with different vendors; and when the wedding day actually came, I was truly blown away while reflecting on the work that we had done.

Therefore, in summary, this wedding has taught me that I can find pleasure preparing and laboring for future things! Our wedding ended up perfect! And I will continue to take joy in my future labor as well!