Things at the Hoosier Country Homestead have been pretty much the same
over the last week. The green beans are
producing, the tomatoes are still coming in, and everything else is looking
pretty good given its weedy condition. The
chickens are cranking out eggs and complaining (bitterly) about being thrown out of the
tomato beds. There is, as always, plenty
of work to be done and it’s that ‘plenty of work’ that I’ve been pondering this
week.
I’ve been reading through the book of Ecclesiastes in my morning ‘quiet’
times and have noticed something of a recurring theme in the first 5
chapters. Ecclesiastes is not a real
popular ‘read’, but as you may or may not recall, this is the book that
contains the “There is a time for everything, and a time for every activity
under heaven:” passage. You remember:
“A time to be born and a time to die,
A time to
plant and a time to uproot,…”
This passage, made popular by The Byrds in the 1965 classic “Turn,
Turn, Turn”, usually gets the spotlight for this book but it is something else
that has captured my attention.
As Solomon, pretty much universally considered to be the writer, is
pondering the value of earthly things apart of God he goes through the list of
everything generally thought to be of value and worthwhile. The list is pretty much the same today as it
was some (almost) 3000 years ago when the book was written. Wealth, pleasures from the sensual to the “good
life”, accomplishment of great projects, prestige and position, and a few
others. He comes always to the same
conclusion: “...everything was
meaningless, a chasing after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun.”
Tucked in among the lists of things he’s considered and the ‘everything
is meaningless’ verses is the thing that has caught my eye: It appears, in some variation, four times in
the first five chambers. It goes like
this in the third chapter. (For those
who care, this is out of the NIV.) “I
know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while
they live. That everyone may eat and
drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift from God.” In other places it appears as, “A man can do
nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?”
It is so popular and so easy for us to look at ‘work’ as a
four-letter-word. We look forward being “off
work” and to “retiring from work”. We
complain about work, look for better work, try to avoid work, buy things to
reduce our work, and all the while wonder why we ‘just aren’t happy’. Work is more often than not considered
something bad and something good to be done with.
The thing I have noticed in this book is that it is not the
accomplishments that come from our work that are to be our satisfaction, it is
the work itself that is to be our source of earthly fulfillment. I don’t know about the rest of you, but this
is a pretty easy thing for me to forget when you’re outside on a very humid day,
fighting off mosquitoes while trying get your early potatoes dug, garden
weeded, or critters taken care of.
But still it is there in the Bible and, contrary to the popular culture
and, too often my own short-sightedness, I believe it to be true. I’ve been trying, over the last couple of
weeks, to slow down while I’m working, just for moment, to be "in the moment”. I take these intentional moments to thank God
for work he’s given me to do, and to ask
for strength and wisdom enough to do it all for His glory. As I look out over the place I can see that there will be plenty of
opportunities between now and winter for me practice being thankful, just for the work. We are blessed!
Col. 1:9-12,
Mark
