Our neighbors’ little boy, 12, beamed with pride as he announced that he had mowed the lawn for the first time that weekend. His mom confided he had also helped her by vacuuming the living room.
This is a family with four children, ranging in age from 15 to 6. The teenager has run her own pet-sitting business for a few years, and she also babysits.
The mother works hard, day in and day out, with cooking, laundry and ferrying the children around town, while Dad labors at his more-than-40-hours-a-week job.
I greatly admire the family because they seem to understand that all work — however humble — matters. And with Labor Day approaching, this seems like a perfect motto.
Work comes in many shapes and sizes. Some is highly paid and features a posh office, a nice retirement package and a fancy title. There’s also labor that requires a strong back and endurance and offers few frills.
Some people take home paychecks in the six digits, while others work from dawn to dusk and make barely enough to buy groceries.
But it isn’t the size of the paycheck that dictates the attitude toward work.
I’ve known custodians who took such pride in their humble tasks you’d think they were raking in millions. I’ve also seen highly paid executives who whiled away precious time figuring out how to shirk their responsibilities.
Maybe they forgot their Sunday-school lessons. You see, when God created Adam and Eve, he didn’t provide them with lawn chairs so they could loaf.
Instead, we are told in Genesis, he gave them the job of cultivating and caring for the garden. So, even before that famous Fall occurred, our first parents were busy.
Where are we today? I’ve read newspaper stories about new college graduates who look down their noses at decent-paying jobs because they want even more money and bigger perks. They prefer to live at home with mom and dad, sponging off them until the dream job arrives.
Even in these hard times, they wouldn’t consider grilling burgers or cleaning houses, because they’ve decided this work is beneath them.
They haven’t seen the obvious truth. We were created to accomplish goals. We weren’t made to sit on the couch and stare at a TV screen or play computer games.
There is dignity in work, and when we refuse to do it, we languish.
You will notice there is not a national holiday devoted to lazy people. No festivity where we celebrate people who shirk their responsibilities.
And you will notice the Bible tells us God took six days to create the world, and then rested on the seventh.
Since he rested, I think we know what he was up to on the other days. Yes, it seems even God didn’t find work beneath his dignity.
There’s a lesson in that, which our neighbors’ kids seem to get, but many adults miss.
