“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19).
It is a strange time of year – this period of time, between Christmas and New Years. Most people are away from school and work. The shops are sort of crazy as people duck in and out trying to entertain themselves for the few days of the year that they have away from the regular hustle and bustle of work.
And I have been reflecting on this holiday season. You see, people spend a lot of their working hours complaining about work and the fact that they have to work in paid employment to survive in the world.
And yet – there is great value in work.
Recently, I have known of a dear one who has been diagnosed with a terrible (and life-threatening_ medical condition. This diagnosis means that it is likely that the term of his earthly life will be shortened considerably below the average adult lifespan in this country. And though we continue to pray for the intervention of God in this matter, this unexpected diagnosis has certainly been at the heart of my thoughts and prayers for several months now…
You see, one would assume – I certainly did – that if there was a chance that my life would be shortened I would immediately stop working in my paid employment and take some time to enjoy all the finer things in life. I would travel the world (while I was able to) and lounge around chatting with friends and acquaintances and making memories.
And perhaps – for some people – this is exactly how they would cope with their diagnosis… In this case; however, the opposite has happened. This person finds great comfort in his work. In being able to go in to work when his health permits him to, this person is able to find meaning in his life and finds a certain comfort and gratitude in the things that he is able to achieve. In fact, the work is a useful distraction from the trauma of his situation.
And I have been thinking about that today, because after Original Sin, when Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, one of the first things that God did was that He gave them WORK…
“To Adam He said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.’” (Genesis 3:17-19).
And I have been thinking about what a BLESSING work is. Because the grief that Adam and Eve would have experienced following their fall through Original Sin would have been far greater than the grief of a human soul today over the shortening of their earthly life – because Adam and Eve lost Paradise, which they had experienced so effortlessly…
And that WORK – that toil and that sweat – which had always seemed like a punishment to Adam, now seems like a blessing. For what better way to deal with grief, then by going to work – at whatever you do – every single day…?
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.