laying a foundation - from haggai

Last night I heard that someone used an analogy from Haggai to describe a danger in adult work. In Haggai, the prophet speaks out against people who leave the house of God in ruins, yet work hard to make their own paneled houses beautiful. The idea for the current day principle/application would be to build up God's house and not just our own households.
Today, I decided to read Haggai - and the ideas were really thought-provoking and encouraging. I was especially struck by the following verses:
"The word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore, consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough. You drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes...Because My house lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house...Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts...Since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider: Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you." (Haggai 1:3-6, 9b, 2:4b, 3:18b-19) 

I'm not saying that we can reach a magical day where the Lord begins blessing us more - to say that this book is teaching that would mean I was employing terrible hermeneutics. But, I do think that there is a universal truth principle to be gleaned from this book. We must not give up on doing the Lord's work. We can't be satisfied with simply building and feathering our own little nests. I think this principle is especially good for those in our sphere - since we are new and "laying a foundation" that will hopefully benefit many future people.
Love you guys! Have a great holiday - and don't forget spiritual goals in your New Year's planning. xxoo