Have you heard the reports about how workers in the United States stack up vacation-wise against workers in other countries? The country that grants the most paid vacation is Italy, where workers have an average of 42 days a year off. Next come the French, with a respectable 35, followed by Brazil with 34, Sweden with 32, Britain with 28 and Canada with 26. Even the Japanese, who sometimes have to be coerced to take time off, get an average of 25 days.

            What about Americans? A measly 13. Granted, when you add in a handful of holidays, the figure goes up slightly, but it never catches up to our foreign counterparts.¹

            So if you feel as if you have been working hard, you have!

            Of course, any of us who have been employed for a few years know that is true. Even the best job can be a grind when you have to do it every day.

Christians are hard workers

            In our reading today, we get Paul’s view of work, one that is both practical and accepting of the reality that work needs to be part of life. Apparently there were some lazy people within the church at Thessalonica. Paul sternly advised them that Christianity and laziness are incompatible. He pointed out that when he and his fellow preacher

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