Work

 November 18, 2020

It used to be called the Puritan work ethic. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was raised on it; my father was adamant that you don’t play till the work is done. If that means no play, so be it. That ethic has stood me in good stead for seventy years, perhaps a little too good, since I find it hard to just relax for a day. If I don’t accomplish something, I feel that my day is wasted, and as I’m on the home stretch of life, I don’t want to waste what time God gives me. It’s too precious a gift to fritter away on stuff that doesn’t matter.

The trick is determining what matters. When I was pastoring, it was easy to prioritize. God came first, then family, church, community, and last of all, me. As you can imagine, there usually wasn’t much left for me at the end of the day. I have no complaints; I chose as I believed I should. But now my time is invested in un religious stuff. Through the summer and fall, I took time to work my bees. Linda and I made weekly trips to Rochester to see my mother, often staying overnight. That season is over and yesterday and today were spent wiring the laundry room. Lord willing, tomorrow I’ll work on the plumbing; pretty ordinary stuff. 

It would be easy to say my present work isn’t as important as that which I spent most of my life doing, but that Puritan ethic reminds me that all work done in the name of Jesus is holy work upon which he smiles a blessing. The God who carefully formed the first man out of the dust of the earth, who breathed life into him; the God who calls the stars by name, who raised up the mountains and set a boundary for the seas; this God works and invites us to work alongside him in a calling made holy by his presence. Tonight I am tired and sore, but grateful to be able to flip a switch and have the lights come on in the laundry room. It may not seem like holy work, but when I flip that switch, I participate in the work of the God who said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. My work is a reflection of God’s, and that makes it holy.