Tag Archives: Labor

Chapter-a-Day

Charitable Work

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English: Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2:2-20) Русский: ...
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Then Boaz asked his foreman, “Who is that young woman over there? Who does she belong to?”

And the foreman replied, “She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi. She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few minutes’ rest in the shelter.”
Ruth 2:5-6 (NLT)

Part of the story behind the story in today’s chapter is an ancient practice of charity. In the days before a central government and welfare, the society itself had to find a way to provide for the poor. In keeping with God’s laws, Farmers would leave part of their crop unharvested, or would allow the poor to follow behind the harvesters and pick up grain that was missed. Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi, both being widows, had no choice but to depend on this charity. Ruth followed behind the harvesters Boaz sent into the fields and gathered the scraps they left behind.

I am largely of Dutch heritage, and I sometimes think that “the Protestant work ethic” is knit into my DNA. There is honor in working hard. If you work hard as though God is your employer, you will be blessed. That’s what I’ve been taught since I was young along with being reminded of another simple teaching from God’s Message: “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”

I find it interesting at how this simple principle was put into practice in ancient days. There was no entitlement. Ruth and Naomi had a recourse to get food, but it required labor and Ruth was working hard to provide for herself and her mother-in-law not realizing that she was about to be blessed in unexpected ways.

Chapter-a-Day

Earthly Entanglements and Eternal Purposes

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2012 06 02 Becky & Courtneys Wedding173I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. 1 Corinthians 7:32a (NLT)

Wendy and I live in an unusual situation compared to most married couples I know. We work for the same company and we both work from home. In our spare time we both serve on the Board of Directors for our local community theatre, operate the virtual box office together out of our home, and are regularly involved in shows and productions together on stage. On Sundays, Wendy and I serve together in the visual tech ministry of our church either directing video production or serving behind a video camera. The bottom line is that with the exception of some business travel, Wendy and I are virtually around one another 24/7/365.

Today’s chapter is a virtual web of situational and circumstantial advice, suggestions, and commands surrounding marriage, singleness, and relationships. It’s a little confusing to try and sort out all that Paul is saying and still get the context in which he’s saying it. Whenever I wade into a chapter like this, I try to look for the crux of what the author is getting at. I think the sentence I pulled out from verse 32 is it. Paul’s personal preference is for people to be single like he was, and to be free from earthly concerns so they can focus on eternal matters. He personally saw it as a good thing for people to be free to follow God’s calling without the complications of earthly responsibility.

Being married, and being around your spouse all the time, it’s easy for me to relate to the point that Paul was trying to get through to the believers in Corinth. Marriage creates earthly entanglements. Perhaps this is even more clear to me because my beloved and I are around one another so much. Because of me and the girls, Wendy’s mental focus is constantly shifting from what she needs to do herself to managing the house and the needs of others in the family. She never complains (okay, she rarely complains), but there is no doubt that I am a complication to her existence. The same is true on my side of the ledger. Besides the day to day priorities of making sure I’m looking out for Wendy’s needs, being married carries added responsibility of thinking about provision, planning, and legacy. I’m not just responsible for myself but for my family and the probability that I will leave this world before them.

Marriage creates earthly entanglements. This is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it is an honorable thing and Paul acknowledges that those who are in marriage are called to serve their spouse well. Nevertheless, one must understand that marriage carries weighty and far reaching consequences. You can’t always do the things you personally desire or perhaps to even to do things to which you feel called because your higher priority is looking out for and meeting the needs of your spouse. As a single person, Paul observed the freedom he had to serve Jesus wholeheartedly without the entanglements of marriage, and he obviously thought it a good thing to do if a person could pull it off.

This morning, I’m thinking about Wendy and me and one observation that Paul didn’t make. Sometimes two are better than one because there is a better return on their labor. I am convinced that Wendy and I together accomplish more and do a better job than either of us would alone. We compliment one another’s strengths, sharpen one another’s dull edges, and protect one another from our weaknesses and shortcomings. The marriage brings earthly entanglements, but it also brings tangible, eternal strengths to our earthly purposes.

 

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Acts 18

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Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was. Acts 18:3 (NLT)

I love the fact that Paul did what he had to do in order to fulfill the task God gave him. Not willing to be completely dependent on others, he worked diligently at the menial task of tent making so he could provide for himself. Coming from my Dutch Protestant heritage, I learned a lot about the worth of working hard and doing a job well no matter what the task. Being faithful with a small, menial task is generally rewarded with the opportunity to be given more responsibility with greater reward.

I’ve worked a lot of different jobs in my life. I’ve been paid to do a lot of different things:

  • Delivering newspapers
  • Babysitter
  • Lawnmower
  • Envelope stuffer
  • 35 mm film inspector/duster/splicer
  • Outbound telemarketer
  • Counter of nuts/bolts/screws for inventory
  • Corn pollinator
  • Package sorter
  • Bus boy
  • Book store clerk
  • Library clerk
  • Cook
  • Janitor
  • Driver
  • 35 mm film inspector/duster/splicer
  • Voice talent on radio commercials
  • PA Announcer for sporting events
  • Speaker
  • Writer
  • Napkin folder
  • Table setter
  • Cameraman
  • Photographer
  • Actor
  • Director
  • Administrator
  • Pastor
  • Counselor

I’m sure there’s more.

I sometimes get a kick out of people who sit in relative paralysis and endlessly wonder “what does God want me to do?” The longer I live the more I’m convinced that we are a lot like a jet ski. You can’t steer the dumb thing unless it’s moving forward.

Do something. Do anything. Just GO! God will direct you if you’re moving, working, and doing. He can’t direct us if we’re sitting dead in the water.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Proverbs 6

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Bruegel Proverbs
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Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
      Learn from their ways and become wise!
Proverbs 6:6 (NLT)

I often tell the story of my Grandpa Vander Well. A life-long educator, when he hit mandatory retirement from teaching he took over the school lunch and bus programs. Years later he was told that he had to retire from that position. He promptly found a job as bailiff at the county courthouse. He held that job until he was in his 90’s and the judge called him into chambers to tell him, “Herman, I’m tired of having to wake you  up to take the jury out. It’s time for you to retire.”

A short time later he was moved to a nursing home where he gave himself the job of welcoming committee for new residents. He would take it upon himself to show people around and teach them the ropes. “The day I stop working,” he was fond of saying, “is the day I die.” He wasn’t far off.

As a young man I underestimated the generational impact that my Dutch Protestant heritage had on me. The work ethic that my grandfather inherited from his Dutch immigrant father and the culture of his upbringing was impressed upon his children and his children’s children. There is a lot to be learned and profited from a willingness to work and the honor of doing a job well.

I feel a rant coming on. I will, however, spare you the reading. Today, I’m thankful for the example of my parents, grandparents, and ancestors who honored both work and rest. I’m thankful for both my labor and my leisure.

It’s Monday morning. Time to get back to work.

Random Thoughts, Wayfarer's Journal

Tom’s 30 Day Blogging Challenge Day 21

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CHICAGO - JULY 23: The United Parcel Service ...
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If you had to choose the worst work experience you’ve ever had, what would you pick?

For one semester after high school I attended a conservative Bible College (that’s another post for another day – several posts, actually) and got a part time job at Des Moines’ UPS hub loading trailers. Because the school had a strict dress code I had to wear a suit and tie to class, but then I had only had about 20 minutes between my last class and the beginning of my shift at the UPS hub which was at least 15 minute drive away. So, each day I changed from my suit to my grubby work clothes while I was driving, but that’s another story.

The first month or two of my job went well. I liked my supervisor. I showed up on time, worked hard, and looked forward to advancing up the UPS food chain. I was making a nice hourly wage even though the number of hours was limited.

When you are a loader, you have multiple trailers for which you are responsible. The boxes come down the conveyor and a picker sorts them so that they come down a shoot into the trailer. You grab the box, double check the zip code and start building your walls of boxes. The bed of the trailers had a false floor, so you start by filling the bottom of the trailer, then lower the false floor and build more walls of boxes on top. Of course, you are constantly running back and forth from trailer to trailer trying to get ahead on one before you get too far behind on the others.

One day I showed up at work and got my assigned trailers, which included the dreaded Bedford Park trailer. The line started and we got slammed quickly. I got into the Bedford Park trailer to find that the entire bottom of the trailer was piled high with boxes. The boxes had to have been dumped in the bottom of the trailer before the shift started. The boxes were coming down the conveyor so quickly that I had no time to try and clean up the mess. I shut the false floor on the pile of boxes and started building my walls on top.

When I told my supervisor what I had found, she refused to believe me and blamed me for it. Suddenly, she turned from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. To this day I don’t know who I ticked off or what I did, but suddenly I found myself the team scapegoat. I was made to feel like the team leper. Nothing I did was right and my supervisor came into my trailer to tell me what a terrible job I was doing and threaten to fire me. I had done nothing wrong, but I was in a no-win situation. No one believed the word of a young new hire against a tenured supervisor.

Obviously, I was not wanted so I quit before I was fired. I had to work more hours at another job to make the same money I was making at UPS, but I found a job I enjoyed and one where my hard work and contribution were valued. I sometimes wonder what the true story was, but all things considered I did just fine.

And, I didn’t have to change clothes while driving any longer.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Leviticus 23

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NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 25: A general view of the...
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“Work six days. The seventh day is a Sabbath, a day of total and complete rest, a sacred assembly. Don’t do any work. Wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to God.” Leviticus 23:3 (MSG)

I like to think that I’m the Energizer bunny. I want to think that I can keep going, and going, and going, and going. The reality is that every one of us runs on rechargeable human batteries. We can go all day, but our bodies, our brains, and our souls need sleep before we face another day.

God is a God of creative labor. God is a God of redemptive work. Today’s chapter also reminds me that God is a God of rest, and we are a creative reflection of God even in our need of it. Resting for our individual health, the health of our household, the health of our families, and the health of our community requires regular periods of rest. Each day requires a certain number of hours of rest and sleep. God also designed that we should have regular day of rest woven into our week. Regular weeks of extended rest were woven into the year. There were even prescribed years of rest woven into the fabric of time. God’s message is clear: we need rest.

Today I’m in self-examination mode. I want to works hard and enjoy the fruit of my labor, but I also want to rest regularly and rest well that I might enjoy Life abundantly.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Matthew 20

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Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard: Worker...
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“He replied to the one speaking for the rest, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?'” Matthew 20:13-15 (MSG)

As a business owner, manager, and consultant working on-site in a plethora of different operations, one of the most fascinating things I’ve witnessed over the years has been the way different people respond to time, work load, and earnings.

I’ve witnessed those whose mindset is like the workers in the parable of the talents. They take what they are given, invest themselves in being responsible and earning a return for their employer. Rarely complaining, they work hard and regularly go the extra mile for customers, coworkers and employers trusting that, in the end, they will be duly rewarded for their efforts.

I’ve witnessed others who are like the workers in Jesus’ parable from today’s chapter. They have an eye incessantly on the clock, their co-workers, and their paycheck. Regularly feeling they’re being taken advantage of, they constantly compare their compensation package and work load to others. Effort is made to get away with doing as little as possible for the maximum amount of money, generally complaining at any and every perception of inequity.

Is it possible, even probable, that the type of worker we are on the job translates into the type of worker we are in God’s kingdom? When the Day of Judgement comes, will I be one content when God says “Well done, here is your reward” or will I be getting in queue at heaven’s HR office to file a complaint with the management that the guy who squandered his life and muttered a deathbed confession got a better reward than me?

[Pondering this aside today: Are Lucifer and his fallen angels roughly equivalent to a labor union in the economic system of God’s kingdom?]

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Jeremiah 40

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“My job is to stay here in Mizpah and be your advocate before the Chaldeans when they show up. Your job is to take care of the land: Make wine, harvest the summer fruits, press olive oil. Store it all in pottery jugs and settle into the towns that you have taken over.” Jeremiah 40:10 (MSG)

Some days, it’s pretty simple: Everyone has a job to do, and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

My job this day, as I write this, is to shovel the snow off the driveway so I can drive to Des Moines and keep my client appointments.

See you for Jeremiah 41 on Monday.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 1 Chronicles 26

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 From the family of the Izharites, Kenaniah and sons were appointed as officials and judges responsible for affairs outside the work of worship and sanctuary. 1 Chronicles 26:29 (MSG)

For the past five years I’ve helped lead our little town’s community theater. It’s a great group of people and I enjoy doing shows. Audience members, however, have very little idea the sheer number of people and amount of time and energy required to put a show together for our audiences. Audience members see the actors, but they don’t see the people who did props, marketing, production, set, lights, sound, make-up, or any of a number of other tasks required.

As I read through these chapters laying out how the organization and workforce for the temple, I feel like an audience member getting a peek at the sheer breadth of work required to run the temple. As a casual reader, I think there was this big temple but you had a few priests who made the sacrifices. I didn’t think about security, upkeep, music, accounting, grounds, crowd control, and storage. Solomon’s temple was like a city unto itself. It was a major operation and required thousands of workers to keep it in operation.

Today, I’m thinking about the things I experience without ever considering all that is required to produce it. I’m thankful for all those who quietly go about their appointed tasks which ensure that I can enjoy my daily existence.