The Glory of Labor by Vernie Lynn DeMille

We live in a time of confusion. It could be argued that there are many kinds of confusion and a multitude of papers could be written for them all. I will deal with only one.
Our society worships the human body. Billions of dollars are spent adorning it; concourses of people wear as little as possible with the intent of showing it off, millions are spent on implements of torture designed specifically for shaping it. And yet, for all our worship of the muscles and form of the human body, we despise the very element meant to sculpt it: we despise labor.
It is an unwritten tenet of our cultural beliefs that something is sweeter if we can get it for nothing. Work that requires physical labor is low.
I’m very much afraid that there are no John Henry’s left in America to stand up and challenge the Iron Horse. No one left to question whether faster is better. If “manpower” no longer has any meaning, what is to become of man?
The human body is a thing of beauty and it was fashioned for physical labor. Not labor just for show, after all what good is image without substance? But labor for something greater than oneself. The greatest satisfaction in life comes not from self-serving activities not from self-aggrandizing pursuits. Satisfaction comes not from “having” and “doing”, but rather from “acting” and “being”.
A man of action, who sees a need and fills it, a man of principle who is unwavering in his dedication to correctness; these are the results of labor. Those who adhere to the belief that it is glorious to get something for nothing will never “have” enough, because there is no value attached to those kinds of possessions. Value is directly related to labor. What we do not have to work for we value too cheaply, that which we labor for is too dear to be neglected. A man who believes there is “nothing to do” and demands to be entertained continually values his life, time, and talents too little.
Labor adds value to our lives; it is the glory of the human frame and mind to “act” in such a way as to “be” a man of honor, integrity, and principle.
Glory is not to be had in things. It cannot be bought with bank notes, it cannot be influenced by fame. Glory is only to be had in being who God means for you to be and acting as He would have you act.

The Blessing of Perseverance by Vernie Lynn DeMille

Have you ever really watched a flower grow? Have you seen the first leaves spring from the soil and reach up to the sun? I confess I never have. It always seems to happen when my back is turned.
While I was busy one morning, hanging laundry on the line, my lilacs were opening up to full bloom. I didn’t watch it happen but the fragrance washed over me while I was occupied with my work and in that small instance I was surprised by joy.
That is the blessing of perseverance. We do not plant our seeds, prune our roses, and weed our beds just so that we can then sit back, twiddle our thumbs and fret over when the harvest will arrive.
True perseverance is jumping up and getting to work. It is doing the hundred other things that out of necessity must fill our days. It is sowing the seed and going on with the work that must be done. It is pushing past worry with work and finding in little moments the treasure of joy.
How delightful it is to be surprised by the blossoms of a flower you have lovingly tended and left to grow as you have trained it. Perseverance is patience, not apathy; faith, not forgetfulness; work, not worry. Longfellow said it best, we must “learn to labor and to wait.”
The reward of a garden is not instant. It takes many years to sees the harvest from a peach sapling and yet we plant anyway. We prune and train the young branches of a tree from which we may never harvest any fruit. It is perseverance that drives us on; the indomitable belief that we sow not only for ourselves but for our children and for the whole Earth.

The Humility of Planting

The planting of any kind of seed requires a certain amount of faith in something beyond what we can see, hear or touch.  It is the very essence of humility.  By planting a seed we take our hopes and dreams, our fondest desires and lay them in the ground with nothing but faith that they will rise again from that clay and blossom into fruition.  We subject our will to that of providence, the elements, and the capricious whims of the earth.  There are no guarantees in gardening, there are no certainties or promises.  The soil doesn’t come to us begging to be used.  The trees and vines will not chastise us if they are not planted along our fields.  Nothing pulls us to a garden but our own humility.

            It is one of the first lessons of the Georgic tradition.  The earth could get along without us.  The fields would grow thick with grass and vegetation of many kinds.  Animals would fertilize it, worms would till it, and rain would water it.  It is we who are the beggars; we who come time and again with our meager offerings of hoe and rake and seed, and beg of the land and her creator a harvest.

            We sow our seeds in humility and with faith we wait for the true leaves to appear.