Work
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2
When I was in Middle School my mother would sometimes drop me off at my great-grandmother’s house to spend time with her. I called her Ma Ma. Though Ma Ma was in her late 80’s she was still busy farming her land and taking care of her cows.
I still remember spending a day with her when she was going to make one of her specialties – pear relish. I was going to help. I had never tried pear relish before but now it’s something I enjoy very much. First, we found a few baskets and went out to her pear trees. I held the tiny ladder that helped my Ma Ma get up into the tall pear tree. She began by picking the best pears and kept climbing higher and higher in the tree. I was nervous for her, but she wasn’t concerned in the least.
When she had picked enough pears we washed them and then they were ready to be peeled. I was excited. I knew how to use a peeler and I was excited to finally be able to “really” help. Instead of a peeler, Ma Ma handed me a knife. She didn’t own a peeler because she never needed one. She always peeled her pears with a knife and I was about to follow her lead.
Never before had I used a knife to peel anything. Ma Ma was an expert. She had done this type of work for many years. I had heard that she could peel a piece of fruit in one long spiral. That day I saw her do it. She didn’t do this to impress anyone; this is just how she did it. It looked like a work of art. Ma Ma’s pears were pealed perfectly. Mine on the other hand were a “piece of work”. They were barely recognizable as pears. I did my best, but my best was not pretty. Ma Ma was patient and positive about my work. She used my sad looking pears right along with her perfect pears in the pear relish. It was delicious.
Our talents and abilities are all gifts from our gracious God. We have no right to brag about ourselves. It’s all a gift and God is a generous giver. He blesses even our most meager efforts. God created us in His image. He created us to work and He blesses the work of our hands. God uses our most meager efforts to build His most marvelous kingdom. How glorious is that!
“Work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God.” Dorothy Sayers