day no. 16,996: a glimpse of the garden

“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 L. Sayers

Work is not a curse. Work is from God and it is good. It is a gift from God we give back to Him. He gives us the privilege of giving something to Him: grace upon grace.

Genesis 2:15

And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Before the Fall there was good, hard work. The daily grind was grace upon grace, but the Fall made things harder than they had to be.

Genesis 3:17-19

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

As a result of the Fall, work was cursed, not because there was anything wrong with it per se, but because there was now something wrong with man in se.

So, God sent His Son to do the good work we could no longer do and to die for the bad deeds we had already done.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The Son made it possible for us to return to the good works that God had prepared beforehand for us to do.

Ephesians 2:8-10

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

So, work is a gift. It is a blessing from God. It is a return to Eden. Work provides a glimpse of the Garden. Good works are return to that perfect world and the path forward in this new earth.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

In Jesus, nothing is in vain; especially good, hard work.

day no. 16,812: specializing in generality

"We are not trying to shape culture by producing an array of specialists but rather generalists who understand the importance of all specialties in a way that specialists frequently do not. A good life is what generalists are called to specialize in." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

Specialties are good and necessary, but the temptation for specialists is to elevate their specialty above all others or to discredit other specialties simply for not being the same as their own. Generalities are good and necessary, but the temptation for generalists is to denigrate any specialty as being unnecessary. A good generalist appreciates all specialties. A good specialist appreciates the goodness of other specialties in general without surrendering their special commitment to a specific one.

A good life is the specialty of a good generalist.

Proverbs 22:29

Seest thou a man diligent in his business?

He shall stand before kings;

he shall not stand before mean men.

Diligence in one's business will catch the attention of business experts. Whatever your craft or competency, a good king will recognize your specialty, because he recognizes excellence in general. Game recognizes game.

day no. 15,645: men make hay

1 Corinthians 14:20
Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

Both men and children see the world in terms of sacrifice. The difference is that children expect sacrifices to be made to them and for them whereas men understand that sacrifices are required of them and for others. This is the world that God made and the way He requires us to live in it. We should understand this and conform ourselves to it.

Malice is the way of the fallen world and one with which we should not be acquainted. We should not have PhDs in worldly wisdom. When it comes to that, we shouldn't be ignorant of it, but we shouldn't be experts in it.

Boys resent responsibility. Men take it.
Boys make excuses. Men make hay.

day no. 15,541: vocation and location

On April 2, 2020, while reading a biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon titled The Shadow of the Broad Brim by Richard E. Day, I came across a quote from The Puritan of Gramercy Park,

"When a man surrenders himself, he surrenders his job, and the geography of it!"

I was struck by this comment in thinking of my own vocation and location. I work at Shelter because I live in Columbia, MO. I live in Columbia because God called me to join a team called to plant Anthem Church. I was called to plant Anthem Church because I was at Candeo Church in Cedar Falls and they set out to plant a church in Columbia, MO. I was at Candeo Church in Cedar Falls working for the Department of Education because God called me to Cedar Falls from Story City in order to plant Candeo Church. In Story City, I worked in Des Moines in insurance because I moved to Ames a decade before to be in a band. God led me to Ames to save me and since then He has been leading me vocationally and locationally.  I am where I am, doing what I am doing, because God has led me. When a man surrenders himself to God, he certainly does surrender what he'll be doing and where, but he knows whatever he does and wherever he ends up doing it, he does it all for the glory of God.

day no. 14,950: the depth of the foundation determines the height of the spire

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

Being consistent in your regularly assigned duties provides the stability for extraordinary work to spring from. The sturdier the platform, the more opportunity to thrust upwards. If the base is wobbly, the force of the thrust may actually work against it's ability to ascend.

"Be regular and orderly in your daily affairs that you may be violent and original in your work" - Gustavo Flaubert

You cannot set aside regular duties in order to focus on exceptional ones. 

The depth of the foundation determines the height of the spire.

This explains why most buildings aren't that tall. It's too hard and too much work to dig that deep in order to get that high.

"All noble things are as difficult as they are rare." - Spinoza

The reason so many aspire to be noble and yet so few achieve it is because it is hard. It is rare because it is hard. Because it is hard, it is rare.

"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried." - G.K. Chesterton

Noble plans can only be achieved by noble means and for noble ends. You cannot accomplish a noble task by ignoble means. You cannot achieve a noble end by ignoble measures. You cannot reach the sky by launching yourself off a crumbling foundation.

Isaiah 32:8
He who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.

The man who stands on noble principles and applies himself in a noble manner to noble means by noble measures will find himself breathing that rare air achieved only by nobility.

"Hard work beats natural ability when natural ability doesn't work hard." - unknown

day no. 14,938: working hard while going unnoticed

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

There is something amazingly spectacular about living a regular, day in-day out, hour by hour life for Christ. Faith is not just a mountain top Sunday morning experience, but a Tuesday afternoon just doing work. 

To live for Christ means to be committed to having everything you need in Him and through His provision. This includes the air we breath, the energy He gives us, the opportunities He provides to us and the industry He allows us to participate in. He gives men shoulders in order to lift weights and carry heavy loads. He blesses us with good, hard work. It is hard, so we cry out to Him for help. It is good because without Him we would fall short.

May God grant you the ability to aspire, to zealously pursue with gusto and chutzpah the quiet life of shouldering heavy burdens and being reliable, dependable, resolute, dignified, integrous, and full of gravitas as you go about ordinary business.

Gravity is common, everyday, and often taken for granted, but it is powerful and consistent and gives us the ability to be grounded. Men are to be like that. Willing to be taken for granted and overlooked while zealously, fearlessly committed to doing work.

When we work hard to go unnoticed, guess what happens? People take notice. And what they see is something out of this world. And if they ask us the source of this, we reply, "You are correct. It is out of this world. It does not come up from within, but has been given to me as a gift from without." We point people to Christ by living quietly, working hard, walking properly and using God's blessing to meet our daily needs.