Thoughts On Labor Day From The Acton Institute

In celebration of Labor Day, thoughts from the Acton Institute on the meaning of our labor.

...God has also given our work a spiritual meaning. The Apostle Paul exhorts us in this way: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” That is, we are accountable to God for the opportunities he gives us to be productive, as well as for the energy and talents that we apply in our work. The first great commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” We are to love God in all we do. This includes that portion of our day which we spend at work. We are, quite simply, to show our love of God in our work.

That final sentence--a revolutionary idea in our day. What if, what if, what if we were able to embrace the idea in our culture? The old term often used is 'vocation', or 'calling'.

OS knows people who live this idea out, in several different professions. They are genuinely happy, and their work shines and endures. One in particular, now a semi-retired restaurant owner, comes to memory. One hot August evening, twenty years ago, he made and exhausted and stressed Mr. and Mrs. OS welcome, the final customers of his evening, and became a lifelong friend. His hospitality changed our lives, and his good influence reaches around the world. Many of his happiest moments were spent with that long apron on, moving table to table to table in his establishment, serving up home-cooking, greeting everyone by name, asking about every cousin and in-law. He understood what his work was, and still does, by the way, at a more modest pace. He'll never 'retire', and OS suspects he'll be buried in that apron. Love of God, love of neighbor, a joyful life. A vocation. A calling.

And, to state much the same idea from another point of view, Jimmy Buffett offers us a song:



Happy Labor Day.