work outside the home. Some have traditional jobs with salary/wages and benefits while others work the gig economy. Some work in the home, providing child care, cooking, etc. But why do we work?

We work to obtain the necessities of life. We need to eat and have shelter and clothing, receive medical care, etc. The money we make by working provides for those needs.

Our work allows us to participate in creation. We make things – be they widgets or school lunches. We educate the young, care for the elderly, and heal those who are ill. We help people obtain the goods and services they need to sustain life in a dignified way.

We may also derive fulfillment from our work, from a job well done.

Not everyone works for all of these reasons. Your job may be boring. You do it for the paycheck and find your creative and emotional fulfillment in other ways. That’s fine. Work isn’t an end in itself, but a means to an end.