Monday was Labor Day. It was only two days ago, yet it seems like an eon. I think because Labor Day is such a demarcation from the end of summer and the beginning of fall scheduling that once it happens we are thrust forward into the world of work and productivity. The carefree days of vacation and summer are a distant memory.

The history of Labor day goes back to the middle to the Second Industrial Revolution around the 1880's. Its purpose was to celebrate the worker: "It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country." According to the Department of Labor, the first Labor Day celebration was held Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City by the Central Labor Union. Other municipalities and then states followed suit with celebrations first as a movement, then through legislation. It wasn't until 1894 that Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September a legal holiday. (www.dol.gov/general/laborday/history)

Last Friday, StoryCorps shared an interview with two retired sanitation workers from NYC. Click here to watch the interview as a cartoon. What I loved about it was their attitude- the gentlemen took pride in their work. In doing so, they were respected and part of the community.

This past Sunday a fellow elder from our church shared his thoughts about work. He reflected on how God is a worker, we are in His image (also a worker) and that we need to reflect that image by having integrity, doing our best and realizing that although work may be hard, God is with us.

Yesterday morning, a dear friend shared with me her daily Bible reading. In the passage it spoke of keeping at the work that God has called you. Don't give up. (See below)

All these ideas have me thinking. What does God say about our labor? Our human side says that work is a four-letter word. And sometimes it is.

Yet God did work and it was sacred. From the beginning of the Bible, God created- bringing something into existence. The act of doing so is not passive but active. It is work. Adam and Eve did work, before and after the fall. They were to name the created beings and to care for them. After the fall, work became hard- the sweat of one's brow. But throughout the Bible, even with the tough work, God was there for us.

In the book of Proverbs, the Hebrew wisdom speaks of work as something which we can commit back to God (Proverbs 16: 3) and something of which we need to take care and be diligent. (Proverbs 22:29) The wisdom is that work comes from God, it is a gift (both the skill/talent and the opportunity) that we would be wise to keep in its proper place: strive for the best, learn and improve your skill/condition/understanding yet realize that it all belongs to God and to offer what we have (the skill/talent and opportunity) back to Him.

One of my favorite verses is from Colossians: "whatever the task, work heartily as if serving the Lord." I have to remember that especially when I find myself getting too caught up in work, in the expectations of others or in my own expectations. Whatever I am doing, I need to remember that I am not doing it for my ego, nor for someone else's benefit but for God. When I keep that perspective, it takes the pressure over worrying if I can please that person or if I am doing it right. For we all know of bosses or people who are just never satisfied or happy with whatever we have done. For some, it goes beyond being a perfectionist. It is an unrealistic expectation that is never enough.

So two days after Labor Day it is a good reminder that I need to focus on my work, whatever the work may be: domestic, volunteer commitments, professional. My attitude needs to shift, so that whatever I am doing, I will act as if the results were going directly to God. There is no distinction between my spiritual and secular life- it all is spiritual and it all is a reflection of my faith in God. If I can trust Him with matters of the heart (the decision to believe in Him) then I can trust Him with the mundane matters of what I do- my vocation, profession, hobbies, career, job. I can trust Him with the every day labors of my life.

What about you? What is your work? How do you feel about it? Do you have enough time in the day to do it? Not enough? Do you enjoy your work? Or, is it, well, work (the four-letter variety)? Do you need to step back and think about your labor? Have you celebrated the gifts/talents and opportunities that you have?

So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us. 2 Timothy 1:13-14 MSG

The other week our son sent this link to us. Jay was part of the crew that shot this video. Click here to watch. It is a video vignette about the "oldest active conductor in the world". Hopefully it will put a smile on your face. It did mine.

What I found inspiring was that this gentleman was doing what he loved. And he did it all his life. What a joy and blessing for him to be exposed to music and to be able to express it and share with others the beauty and mystery of sound. As he says, he was surrounded by music even when "I was in my mommy's belly".

Watching him makes me want to return to music in my life: to have notes and melodies swirl around my head and in my home; to be enveloped and overwhelmed by the emotion of the sound; to be part of the creation of the music.

Watching him makes me envious of his commitment and passion for one thing. I am so in awe of those individuals who have found their calling relatively early in life and have had such dedication to it throughout their lifespan. I think of Jane Goodall, Madeleine L'Engle, Dame Judi Dench, Julia Child (though she was an older adult when she took cooking lessons in France), Paul McCartney, A. Philip Randolph.

While we were on vacation these last couple of weeks, we read a lot of books. One that my husband read and I have started is The Road to Character, by David Brooks. So far I have found it very interesting. "Looking to some of the world's greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders, Brooks explores how, through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations, they have built a strong inner character."

Brooks talks about these individuals and their call to vocation. He notes that people who take part in their called vocational activities have joy. I think that is what is so appealing in the video of the centenarian conductor. There is joy in Mr. Ed Simons love of conducting and love of music. That is probably what kept him going for so long.

David Brooks uses an illustration from Dorothy L. Sayers (a mystery writer but also a theologian). Ms. Sayers makes a distinction between serving the community and serving the work. “There is, in fact, a paradox about working to serve the community, and it is this: that to aim directly at serving the community is to falsify the work; the only way to serve the community is to forget the community and serve the work.”

As Mr. Brooks adds, "But if you serve the work- if you perform each task to its utmost perfection- then you will experience the deep satisfaction of craftsmanship and you will end up serving the community more richly than you could have consciously planned. And one sees this in people with a vocation- a certain rapt expression, a hungry desire to perform a dance or run an organization to its utmost perfection. They feel the joy of having their values in deep harmony with their behavior. They experience a wonderful certainty of action that banishes weariness from even the hardest days."

What about you? Are you banishing weariness even in the hardest days? If not, what would bring joy for you? Do you need to experience more _____(fill in the blank- music, art, literature, relationship building) in your life? What can you do differently to achieve that?

Do you have a single-mindedness to your work- either career or vocation? Or, like me do you have many interests and passions?

I think the people who have that single-mindedness of purpose are placed in our lives to inspire us. Their interest and excitement in what they do can be infectious. We may not have a life-long interest but we can have a seasonal one. We can strive to perform whatever the task with the utmost perfection so that we too can experience joy with whatever we do. Who knows? We might end up living life to its fullest like Mr. Simons.