Reflections on Labor

August 30, 2004

Edgar Bergen, the comedian who played the character Charlie McCarthy, once said, “Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?” This weekend, we celebrate a secular holiday in which we at least give homage to the concept of labor. I operate under no illusion that we will actually celebrate or pause to observe a moment of silence for labor. To the contrary, as a nation, we will rush to the beaches, mountains, or our favorite get-away place to forget labor.

There is a theological component to labor. God directed Adam to earn his living, tilling the soil, “by the sweat of his brow” as a component of the curse for sin that cause Adam’s ejection from the Garden of Eden. So we draw the conclusion, hard work must be bad! But doing meaningful, productive work is honorable and brings value to life.

Slothfulness, or laziness, is one of the “seven deadly sins”. I once knew a man who said he wanted a “sit down job”. Actually, he didn’t want a job, he just wanted to sit behind a desk and draw a paycheck. As many of us can testify, sit down jobs done well are as tiring, stressful, and demanding as most “stand up” jobs.

Growing up on a farm taught me about hard work early in life. Before this starts sounding like Bill Cosby (“I walked to school…in the snow…seven miles…uphill…in both directions), I didn’t like hard work then, and I don’t like it now! (How’s that for honesty?) But while I am no longer hoeing weeds in the tomato patch, or unloading the Coca Cola truck in 100 degree heat, or flipping 10,000 bags a day at Southern Bag Corporation, I work hard at what God has given me the privilege to do. I find fulfillment in doing, and do not understand people who work harder at avoiding work than if they did the job they were hired to do.

Men in particular find our self identity in what we do. That may be why a very high percentage of men died immediately after retirement, going from hard work to doing nothing. I cannot imagine doing nothing. Nor can I imagine heaven as a place where we lay around, floating on a cloud.

Enjoy your Labor Day, and thank God, who has commanded you to earn your living by the sweat of your brow, that you have work to do, and the ability to do it.