Time for Celebrating a Labor of Love

Of all our American holidays, Labor Day is probably the most confusing. In the minds of some, it marks the unofficial end of summer. Others might regard the holiday weekend as the annual launch of football season. For many schoolchildren, Labor Day signifies the end of summer vacation and time to return to the classroom. While for many folks, it’s just an opportunity to hit the pause button before the most hectic time of the year begins.

 

The holiday was birthed in the late 19^th century, when labor activists were advocating an annual celebration of the many contributions workers had made to the strength, prosperity and overall health of the nation. It came at the peak of the Industrial Revolution, when many workers were putting in 12-hour days, seven days a week to eke out a minimal livelihood. Worker strikes, protests and riots led up to Congressional action declaring a federal holiday, signed into law on June 28, 1894. Tangible changes in working hours, compensation and benefits were to follow.

 

Imagine the creativity and effort required
to construct this spiral staircase.

So, while many of us are spending the day at cookouts, various outings or just relaxing, enjoying a day off work, it’s fitting that we pause for a brief homage to American workers, men and women who not only have managed to earn a livelihood for themselves and their families, but also have contributed to the well-being of our society in countless ways.

 

It can also serve as a reminder that from the beginning, work was God’s idea. Even before the sins of Adam and Eve broke up their idyllic existence in Eden, the Lord had ordained work as a good use of our time and talents, as well as a way of giving glory to Him as our Creator.

 

We find this clearly expressed in the first chapter of Genesis. After stating that God created male and female in His image, it says, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it…. I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food” (Genesis 1:28-29).

 

Sadly, after the original couple defied the Lord by eating fruit from the one tree God had forbidden them to eat from, work became difficult: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life…. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food…” (Genesis 1:17-19). Perhaps, before their “fall,” when Eve asked Adam to fetch her a particular type of food he would respond, “No sweat.” No longer.

 

This in no way negates the truth that God, the ultimate worker, desires for us to also work and honor Him in the process. In fact, the Scriptures say it’s one means for receiving recognition and advancing through society: “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men” (Proverbs 22:29). 

 

In Ecclesiastes, generally attributed to King Solomon, we find a sometimes-negative perspective on work. For instance, he writes, “So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:17). And yet, later in the chapter he writes, “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God” (Ecclesiastes 2:24).

 

A couple chapters later, Solomon affirms the benefits of collaborating with others: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

 

Other verses from Proverbs affirm the value of hard work, such as, “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth” (Proverbs 10:4) and, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty” (Poverty 14:23).

 

Then the New Testament book of Colossians revisits the idea that work is not only productive and profitable, but also a way for serving and glorifying our Creator God: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24).

As many of us enjoy another day off from our jobs, vocations and professions, it would be good also to remember that work is a good and noble thing, birthed in the infinite and wonderful mind of God. It should be a time of celebration – and worship!