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Key Bible Verse: "Real life is not measured by how much we own" (Luke 12:15). Bonus Reading: Luke 12:13–21

The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, created by Ford himself, is a monument to the Industrial Revolution. Ironically, next door is a different kind of monument—also created by Ford—called Greenfield Village. Named after Mrs. Ford's childhood community, it's a replica of a typical small town of the late 19th century. It was Ford's memorial to the preindustrial world that the automobile helped destroy forever.

No one knew better than Ford that mass production had changed the nature of life itself. What was his solution to the resulting lack of worker motivation? It was to more than double the average salary, from $2.34 for a nine-hour day to $5 for an eight-hour day.

Ford's audacious offer solved his manpower problem, making employment in his factory a sought-after prize. But even as he solved one problem, he created another. Ford's workers' boredom, stress, alcoholism, and absenteeism expressed their struggle with a single question: What does my work mean? Ford's answer: Work means money. Although the Model T has long since disappeared, Ford's simplistic answer still torments us today.

—Tim Downs in Finding Common Ground

My Response: What, besides a paycheck, does my job provide?

Thought to Apply: The best work never was and never will be done for money. —John Ruskin (British social theorist)

Adapted from Finding Common Ground (Moody, 1999) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Thank You, Creator God, for uniquely designing me. Point me to what I can do that will satisfy me and glorify You.

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