Thank God it’s Monday
Hello new friends, thanks for joining us in this inaugural issue of BEMagazine; we’re honoured to have you here. I’m super excited to walk together with you in this adventure of life, where we get to discover the purpose we’ve been created for and live it out through the work we get to do. Before I get ahead of myself, let me take a minute to tell you a little bit about who I am and where we’re going.
I’m Amanda. I’m a wife, mother, business owner, health & fitness ‘passionista’, & lover of all things business. As an x-Corporate VP Marketing turned Impact Entrepreneur, I’m on a mission to inspire, encourage & build up entrepreneurship in Canada, and through BEMagazine I hope to do that one woman-at-a-time.
My business background spans 30 years of experience across a variety of industry sectors including fashion, cosmetics, retail, luxury, entertainment, sports, toys, food, health & wellness. Career wise I’ve climbed the corporate ladder, starting with my very first job after graduating from university, as a receptionist in a technology company, to my last job as VP Marketing at Holt Renfrew, Canada’s home for luxury designer fashion & beauty. As a business owner, I’ve been living out the highs & lows of entrepreneurship for roughly 5 years now and “loving” every minute of it. Yes, that’s “loving” with intentional quotes, something we’ll get into as we journey along together.
Okay get ready, because we’re going to dive into one of the most important areas of our life – our work. Hold up now, I get it, I hear you groaning - who really wants to talk about ‘work’? Aren’t we supposed to say, ‘work to live, not live to work’?
Let me flip the script a little bit.
Most of us spend at least 8 hours a day at “work” (entrepreneurs more like 12-16), 6-8 hours sleeping and the remaining 8 hours doing other things like spending time with loved ones, exercising, eating, etc. One-third (1/3) of our lives is spent doing some form of “work”, wouldn’t it be amazing if what we did for that work energized us instead of stressed us out? Can you imagine what your life would look like if those 8 hours were a source of extreme blessing & joy for you, and brought you closer to who God created you to be? What if we’ve got it all wrong about ‘work’? What if ‘work’ isn’t drudgery, what if ‘work’ is actually an act of creation and a way to manifest our purpose in life? What if?
I believe it’s not a coincidence that God’s first interaction with Adam was to give him “work” – “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:15, NIV). And not just any kind of “work”, but creative work – “He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.” (Genesis 2:19-20, NIV).
Consider the creative energy that flowed through Adam as he “worked” to imagine and speak the names of each living creature. As he spoke the names, he spoke more than just sounds into the air, he spoke a confirmation of identity. And let’s not forget God himself is “working” – “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” (Genesis 2:2, NIV) … the very act of creation is described as “work”.
Let’s do this, let’s dive into “work” as purpose, as creativity, as servanthood, as ministry, as worship, as an act of creation. Whatever your relationship to “work” is, from just starting out and trying to find a career, to making the leap into entrepreneurship, and from climbing the corporate ladder to not-for profit volunteering, we’ll cover it all. From moonlighting side hustles, to leading teams and everything in between, my hope is to inspire, encourage & help you grow in your work purposefully.
I invite you to come on this journey with me – let’s reimagine & redefine the purpose of ‘work’ in our lives and let’s together, watch & see God unlock the purpose He’s put in our hearts through this magnificent privilege we get to do, called “work”.
Welcome to “Thank God it’s Monday”.
#TGIMLife
