What we must do

Today is such a wonderful day.

I'm back in the saddle with the blog (after two days of so-so work on it). By the way, the responses as to what was happening were less than deafening. I digress.

But here I am working, just as I was 25 years ago today when Mary and I were married. I worked before I ran off to be married. I don't remember why, but that says alot about what Mary has had to put up with and about me and work, I guess.

The Bible has plenty to say about work, going all the way back to the second verse of the thing where it tells us "On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work." God rested; I have had problems with that.

It goes on. In Genesis 5:29 we read: "Lamech named his son Noah, for he said, “May he bring us relief from our work and the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord has cursed.” Work wasn't getting such a good name, was it?


God knew we would have trouble with this whole work thing, so he made it clear in the 20th chapter of Exodus just what he thought of it. The Bible says: "9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. 12 “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you."

So what do I go and do? I take the one job that requires, requires mind you, that i work on the Sabbath.

I digress.

The Bible goes on and on and on about work. Heck, even God gets in on it. In the prophet Isaiah's writings, you see this: "For since the world began,no ear has heard,and no eye has seen a God like you,who works for those who wait for him!"

Even God does the working thing.

Now, Proverbs celebrates work. "We read this: Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity,but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty."

But Ecclesiastes cancels that: "I came to hate all my hard work here on earth, for I must leave to others everything I have earned."

In the end, I loved my work. I actually love my work now. I loved it too much, I'm afraid, Not because I must leave to others what I've earned because I spent way too much of it in the first place but because I spent way too much time away from my kids and now my grand kids.

As my son pointed out yesterday, "You can come to see your grand kids." I said in return, "Well, I have things I must do."

The point of all this is for 25 years I always had things I must do. Perhaps looking at those things from the perspective of Christ might teach me that must is a word that means different things to different people.