As one, who,
from the outset of this corpus of little essays, reflections, and observations,
acknowledged the positive influence of great men, I also gratefully acknowledge
the profound influence of the great women in my life (particularly my wives)
and add with this essay yet another to my pantheon. As a female counterpart to the astute Christian
mentor of many of us—C. S. Lewis—I add his British contemporary, Dorothy L.
Sayers (1893-1957)—essayist, novelist, poet, theologian, dramatist and scholar.
In 1942 she published an essay titled ‘Vocation in Work’, in A
Christian Basis for the Post War World (WW II). When I read her essay, I immediately
resonated to it. It helped gel my views
on the value of work, which I give here.
For us in
our time work is often viewed as but a means to some (we think) higher—usually some
economic, commercial, or leisure-focused—end. I, Ms. Sayers, and other old-
schoolers would suggest a contrary view. The economic end taken alone or intentionally
chosen over other options is ultimately a dead end.
In the
opening years of the 1940’s, a time of economic uncertainty, a coalition of
religious leaders in Britain concluded that “the sense of a Divine vocation must be restored to a man’s daily work.”
An esteemed leader in the Church to which I belong some ten years earlier voiced
a similar plea: “Let us as a people re-enthrone
work as a guiding principle in our lives” (Heber J. Grant). He said this in
response to the troubles of the early years of the Great Depression in this
country which soon spread to Europe.
‘Restored?’
‘Re-enthroned?’
As much as this prescient man knew that people
needed food, they needed hope; they needed purpose; they needed vision; they
needed meaningful work and work needed them.
Mr. Grant
posed a more correct view of work than the usual, by traditional religious interpretations,
rather negative interpretation of the so-thought-of work from the beginning of
life on earth as being the ‘curse of Adam’: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake;
in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life . . . in the sweat of
thy face shall thou eat bread, (i.e., you must work) till thou return unto the
ground; for out of it thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return” (Genesis 3: 17, 19).
But look
closer. Notice that the ground was
cursed, not Adam (man). The antecedent for the ‘curse’—the partaking of the
fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—by our first parents was,
rather, to become the catalyst for
God’s gracious response. Readers of scripture also seemed to overlook the
caveat in that verse, “for thy sake.”
Because of this choice God sent to earth a Divine Redeemer—to redeem fallen man
and to redeem the fallen earth. It was
all part of the plan.
Remember,
too, before Adam partook of the fruit of the tree, he was told to “dress this
garden (Eden); keep it (or take good care of it).” He was moreover given
dominion (stewardship) of all living things and the Earth itself. To me that
means purposeful, productive, meaningful and rewarding work was his (Adam’s—man’s)
charge, but would now be carried out in a different venue—in a world where
things wouldn’t be so easy for him. He would be required to constantly make
choices. He learned that the Creator Himself not only valued work, but it was
the very thing that comprised the focus of His—God’s—life.
Moses, recorded God as revealing to him God’s purpose in the creation of man:
“For behold, this is my work and my
glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Pearl of Great
Price, Moses 1:39). God set the pattern;
meaningful work was to be man’s work also. Man needed to work out his salvation but to
keep God in the equation because he couldn’t do it alone.
To repeat: God
was and is a creator—that is His work. Man should be a creator also—that is his
work.
And how is
it done? It is for us to turn to our own
work—whatever we are motivated to do, whatever we are called to do, whenever we
can do it. Serve work that is
intrinsically compelling for you—something that you can be really good at if
you will discipline yourself to put in the time. If it is good for you (and it
will be if you are creative, that is, you too are a creator) it will surely be
good for others. But note this caution:
your chosen vocation will not necessarily be found by simply looking within and
finding your passion, as graduation speakers are prone to say, but rather by looking without and asking what life is
asking of you. When you ask, ask to
know what life is calling you to do.
And then do it.
One who follows this pattern will be satisfied
because he will have lived a life of purpose—and you will always
find it will include other people and that your vocation in some way served
them.
A divine
vocation will always serve others.
