The Great Labor Force And Its Influence in Evil Times

I try –I really do. I try to have other things to talk about, but it always comes back to the book I am reading.

This is why you should pat my husband on the back when you walk by, maybe bring him chocolate chip cookies every once in a while. Because the poor man left his parents and cleaved himself to a living audiobook.

“Oh, this part is so good,” I say. “Do you want me to read it to you?”

“I would love for you to read it to me,” he says. (Imagine his wealth of internal character.)

So I read him the part about the parakeet that learned from its master to whistle a dog call, and the poor bird called the dogs on itself. Matt had to admit it was funny, and in great chivalry he even agreed that the author’s imagery in describing the bird’s fate is unparalleled.

I’m savoring my way through West with The Night, by Beryl Markham. I have elevated her to the status of Charles Dickens, and my husband declares that she certainly must be amazing then.

So, my dear readers, may I share with you all one quote from my book? Just one?

Beryl describes a pilot she has met, Tom Black, by saying:

“If a man has any greatness in him, it comes to light, not in one flamboyant hour, but in the ledger of his daily work.”

Isn’t that an outstanding quote for Labor Day?

I was praying to the Lord yesterday, because my heart was so weighted down with all of the disturbing world news. I couldn’t get the images of Syrian refugees out of my mind, and I wandered around my house wondering why I had a soft bed and insulated walls and a fridge full of food, when there were people across the world running for their lives. People with faces in anguish -captured on camera.

What do I do, Lord? How do I live in these days?

So I turned to Paul’s words to the Thessalonians, about the coming day of the Lord. I was wondering what we should do when we see the days of this world are increasingly wicked. In light of great darkness around us, Paul prescribes surprisingly simple acts for us to do.

Warn those who are idle.

Encourage the timid.

Help the weak.

Be patient with everyone.

Be kind.

Be joyful.

Pray.

Give thanks.

Hold on to the good.

Avoid evil.

(From 1 Thessalonians 5:14-22 NIV)

Paul knew and even warned that wars and evil would happen around us in these days before Jesus returns, yet this simple list? This is the instruction. It means getting up every day and being a great person in a hundred little ways –while we’re at our jobs, while we’re parenting, while we’re making dinner and folding laundry. In simple acts of obedience to the Lord throughout our workday, we elbow out the darkness and leave a large footprint of goodness.

So I raise my glass to us laborers who are sons of the light, to all those who long to be great in this world. Our lives may hold no flamboyant hour of heroism, but may we clock in and writing shining acts in our daily ledgers.