Then the high priest Eliashib set to work….
…walk through the kitchen and head upstairs.
I have labored in a non-traditional work environment for the past 22 years. My company has never had a traditional bricks and mortar location for our business. Every member of our group works from home. It has always been this way since our founder started the company in his own home. Our staff meetings began around his kitchen table.
Over the years we’ve had many group members who have struggled with working from home. Some, after trying it for a time, have opted to move on to a traditional job where they “go to work” in the morning and “come home” at night, which I totally get. I have had to forge a more non-traditional approach to finding the balance between work and personal life when they co-exist in the same space.
One of the qualities I’ve had to develop in my life is self-discipline. Our team operates on weekly, monthly quarterly, and annual project deadlines for our clients. The work has to get done and his has to get done on time. If I don’t set to work on a regular basis then I’m going to find myself in a world of hurt. And, I confess that a certain amount of my self-discipline development has come from learning the hard way.
In today’s chapter I was struck by the sheer number of people who were mentioned in the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. The project took a host of people who “set to work.” Many took responsibility for the sections of the wall near their homes and/or businesses. It wasn’t left for others. It wasn’t hired out. The work wasn’t placed on the back of slaves. High priests, rulers, officials, businessmen, and laborers all set to work.
This morning I’m reminded of the value of setting to work. I observe a world and a culture that is constantly trying to get out of having to do anything. The temptation to procrastinate never goes away, and there is so much value in the simple discipline of getting the job done. Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful, but there aren’t enough people willing to do the work.
Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have some business to take care of.
Today’s chapter was a reminder to me of teamwork and work ethic. As a kid from the Midwest where farming is everywhere, we had a reputation as being hard workers. It might be because I now live in a city, but I feel like we have lost some of that reputation. The small farm has become the big corporate farm. I have no doubt that farm kids still work harder and have better work ethic than my kid, there are just fewer of them. Hard manual labor has given over to technology and the computer helps calculate what once was done mentally. You don’t rebuild a city wall by standing around, that’s for sure, and today’s youth need to understand that we were made for work and there is fulfillment found there.