Work Hard, Work Gladly, and Rest

Thirty eight miles south of Columbus, Ohio, farm land stretches out as far as the eye can see. There is something really beautiful and peaceful about the stillness of a farm in the evening. With a hard days work done, the tractor and the farmer are finally at rest. I come to this part of the country once a year to visit with a client. My favorite part of the trip, is the quiet drive north up I-71, which carries me through family farms in route from my hotel to the restaurant where I meet my client for dinner.

There aren’t as many family farms in this country as there once were. I know Amber takes great pride in the farm that was in her dad’s family for over 150 years in Northeast Michigan. It was situated in the tip of the “thumb,” if you insist on using the hand reference of Michigan geography. My maternal grandparents had a few hundred acres of property in the county where I grew up in East Tennessee. The soil is different in East Tennessee than it is in Michigan, so my grandfather grew more livestock than crops.

Cattle need hay. Hay my grandfather had, but help getting it from the field, to the trailer, to the barn, well, that's where the grandkids came in. I remember the time as a kid I left my house in the city, and showed up at the family farm, a short 20 minute drive to the county, wearing athletic shorts and gym shoes to "help with hay.” As Mom dropped me off, I wondered to myself why my cousins and others, had on jeans and long sleeve shirts in the hot and humid heat of summer. After a few hours of throwing square bales of hay from the field to the trailer, my forearms looked like I tried to wrap a family of feral cats in a bear hug. As I felt the pain of sweat meeting scraps on my wrists and forearms, the once strange wardrobe of the others made much more sense.

Work, especially physical labor, is difficult, its taxing. Play is easier, it’s more fun. Scripture tells us many times in many different ways however that we should work, and we should work hard. Even from the beginning of time, God gave man work. In Genesis 2:15, we are told, "The Lord God took the man (Adam) and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it."

In Colossians 3:23, it states "whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men." So, the command is two fold: work hard and work as if working for the Lord. How would you approach work differently if you could carry this mindset to work on Monday morning? I've had my fair share of great bosses and not so great bosses, I wish I could have maintained the mindset of working gladly for the Lord, while "working" for all of my former bosses. 1 Corinthians 10:31 tells us "Whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

After my client meeting, I arrived back at my hotel, and stopped in to use the restroom. From the moment I opened the door, I could hear the soft echo of someone singing. Rounding the corner, I saw an older employee of the hotel kneeling down on one knee joyfully cleaning a urinal with a blue rag. Did I mention he was singing? Should I tell you again he was working joyfully for emphasis? I've cleaned a few toilets at a few jobs in my life, and let me tell you, I didn't do it joyfully and I certainly wasn't singing while scrubbing. I obviously don't know the hotel employee, but if he is anything like the rest of us, his life has difficulties, heartaches, and disappointments. I doubt a younger version of himself envisioned that he would be performing such a lowly task for compensation. However, there he was. He was working. He was working hard. Although admittedly I don't know if he was a person of faith, I can't help but think he was, and that he was consciously doing what he was doing, all to the glory of God. Yes I said it, we can honor God, even while cleaning a urinal.

God himself worked hard to create the Heavens and the Earth. For 6 days he created all of the beauty and wonder we now enjoy. When He was finished, do you know what He did? He rested. Thereby setting the tone that we should work hard, then we should rest as well.

It's not just the hotel employee that serves as a great example for us...

There's the stay at home mom listening to her child repeat “mommy” all day, while being chased around the house completing tasks. The dog whines by the back door and paws at an empty bowl, it's not only the little people that demand her time, but none the less, she works hard, she smiles, she works for the Lord. When the kids are finally tucked neatly in bed, she rests.

The salesman who sits exhausted in the bleachers at his daughter's soccer game, his tie pulled away from his white dress shirt and his sleeves rolled up. The vibration in his pocket and the chime of his cell phone means another email or text message demands his attention. Reaching into his pocket he silences his phone and cheers even louder. Scoring 2 goals, he tells his little girl how proud he is and promises her ice cream on the way home. Sitting in bed, he responds kindly to the urgency of the earlier messages. He pulls the cord attached to the lamp on his bedside table, and he goes to sleep.

The Executive Assistant who caters to everyone at work, in a thankless job that pays far less than she deserves. She reads her grocery list at her desk, as the clock ticks closer to 5pm. Adding items to her grocery lists, she listens to a voicemail from a neighbor who "needs her help after work." The text message reply she sends while walking to her car states simply, "Absolutely, I'll be glad to help." After her evening bath, she reads a chapter from a book a friend recommended, and crawls into bed. Today will end as yesterday ended, with prayers of thanksgiving for the day the Lord gave her.

So, let's do what scripture tells us, let's follow the example of God and others around us, let's work hard, work gladly, and rest.

Much Love, Adam