Daughter #1, Mr. Smith and I are off to the Prairie this morning. Hopefully the traffic will not be too bad on this Labor Day weekend. Prayers for travel mercies are much appreciated!
Ready to hit the road!
Happy Labor Day–the day I salute the men who do the work that women do not want–the men who pick up your trash, and fix the roads, who are plumbers and electricians, who mine the coal and fix our cars and fight the wars and protect the streets. The ones who stop on the highway and pull people out of burning cars. I thank you.
“I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.” ― Thomas A. Edison
Come, labor on. Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain while all around us waves the golden grain? And to each servant does the Master say, “Go work today.”
Happy Labor Day! Hope you are having a good day. The twins are coming over again and we will find something fun to do, hopefully with daughter #1 and Mr. Smith.
We picked the twins up for church on Sunday while their parents were still distracted getting ready to move to daughter#3’s parents’ condo over the weekend. They checked their depravity and drew pictures in notebooks I had brought for that purpose. The bud drew many variations on this theme:
And Lottie drew her ‘stories’:
We sang this hymn which always makes me cry…
After church we went to the Sunny Street Cafe for brunch. The twins had dinosaur pancakes and were quite content. The boy picked them up shortly after we came home and they were annoyed that they hadn’t had time to play, but the OM sighed with relief.
To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus For my life is wholly bound to His Oh, how strange and divine, I can sing: All is mine! Yet not I, but through Christ in me
“I don’t give jobs, I hire men.” This scene from McClintock seems relevant.
“Only, let every one lead the life which the Lord has assigned to him, and in which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. “
I Cor. 7:17
The sermon yesterday was on I Corinthians 7:17-24. The preacher was Dr. Daniel Doriani, a well known Presbyterian in our community and a blogger at TGC. It was excellent–all about how God calls us to faith and union with Christ and to places and roles, about living faithfully in our callings and where God has put us. You can read his Work: Foundational Truths for Uncertain Times here. Again, it is wonderful to leave church feeling ebullient and ready to face the week. It has been literally years since I felt that way after church.
Meanwhile, Miss Katie needs to “work” on her table manners…
Speaking of nutballs, we had not seen the wee babes for a couple of weeks, so we were glad they could come over for a Labor Day BBQ with their parents on Sunday. It was a beautiful day, sunny and in the 70s with low humidity. We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine. When we came inside they wreaked havoc as usual.
In other news, daughter #1 and I went to one estate sale on Saturday where I found an old issue of the From Mary to You alumnae magazine from 1969 which I bought for a dollar and thoroughly enjoyed reading. There was a photo of our pater in a coonskin cap being uncharacteristically goofy in his AP U.S. class…
and a photo of moi in a seventh grade play …
I think that is my friend Harriet second from the left with a veil. I am second from the right (I think). I have no memory of this play, ‘The Paduan Berets’ by Pirandello. Zut alors! Weren’t we sophisticated? (Actually, no, not really.)
So if you have the day off today, enjoy it.
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
The weekend promises to be busy, what with two sons home and much to-ing and fro-ing going on. All the activity seems fitting for Labor Day weekend, although the DH and I won’t get Monday off. Still, hard work is worth celebrating, even if Labor Day has been co-opted by retail and politicized. Let’s just get down to the basics. As someone facing work-place struggles, here are a few things I wish my co-workers would remember.
The value of working hard toward a goal depends on the goal. We’d all do well to remember that there’s a difference between working to make money or get ahead and working to improve your knowledge and character, or your family’s prospects.
Remember that your co-workers are working hard, too, and their goals might just be more noble than yours. In other words, do not run roughshod over other people in order to get what you want.
All work and no play really does make everyone dull and boring. Get a life, but keep it balanced.
When we work hard, we find out what we can do, and we discover inner strength and character. Laziness just makes us dumb and fat. Pull your weight at work.
Although effort is inherently noble, hard work does not always pay off — at least not in money, recognition, promotions, or good grades. But at least we end up with the satisfaction of knowing we tried.
Take a moment this Labor Day to think about why you work and what you hope to accomplish. If your answer is that you don’t know and have no goals, then it’s time to figure that out. Cowboy up!
My Labor Day movie recommendation is John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley (1941) about the struggles of a family of Welsh miners. Be sure to watch with Kleenex at the ready.
Have a wonderful weekend and remember this:
“Neither happiness nor respect are worth anything, because unless both are coming from the truest motives, they are simply deceits. A successful man earns the respect of the world never mind what is the state of his mind, or his manner of earning. So what is the good of such respect, and how happy will such a man be in himself? And if he is what passes for happy, such a state is lower than the self-content of the meanest animal.” Richard Llewellyn, How Green was my Valley
Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894, following the deaths of a number of workers during the Pullman Strike in Chicago. In an effort to conciliate organized labor after the strike, President Grover Cleveland and Congress designated the first Monday in September as a federal holiday.
When I was growing up it was considered the cut-off date for wearing white or seersucker. School resumed soon after. It also marked the start of the football season and new shows on T.V.
Much of all that has changed, but we still get the day off and for that I’m grateful. I will enjoy staying home today.
Of course, not everyone gets the day off. The boy will be laboring in his retail job. Here he is in yet another video for Total Lacrosse.
Don’t forget: If you liked what you saw, hit that thumb’s up sign!
(P.S. It takes awhile for those Youtube vids to load.)
[The above picture was taken circa 1977-78 when my dual personality and brother were laboring to repair the roof of my parents’ garage. I was too afraid to go up on the roof (I did try) so I took the picture with my trusty Instamatic commemorating the event. Par for the course.]
*Pray and work
Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
dual personalities 