Work

 

Last Friday, I came home tired.  As a matter of fact, I was so tired that I laid down and took a half-hour nap.  I woke up refreshed and started to get up when I felt cramps in both legs.  I eased up, got the blood flowing, and the cramps subsided, so I struggled into a warm shower and felt better.  But I feel so satisfied when I come home tired from working.  Aching muscles mean that I have done something productive, and that makes me feel good inside, if not outside.  My parents taught me to work, and I have done my best to instill a work ethic into my four children.  Hey, the dear Lord likes work.  God gave Adam work to do even before Adam had a wife to spend his money (If Adam did have money.  Ha, ha!).  The apostle Paul was bivocational, working at making tents while preaching the gospel when he could.  Paul said in II Thessalonians 3:10, “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”  There are some who are not able to work, and we should support them.  But if you are physically able, get out there and work!  Henry vanDyke said it best in “Work”:

 

Let me but do my work from day to day,

In field or forest, at the desk or loom,

In roaring market-place or tranquil room;

Let me but find it in my heart to say,

When vagrant wishes beckon me astray—

“This is my work; my blessing, not my doom;

Of all who live, I am the one by whom

This work can best be done in the right way.”

Then shall I see it not too great, nor small,

To suit my spirit and to prove my powers;

Then shall I cheerful greet the labouring hours,

And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall

At eventide, to play and love and rest,

Because I know for me my work is best.