The Work is Hard

The Work is hard. That was the first line in an email we received from my son, Niall, today. He’s serving a mission for the Church in Kortrijk, Belgium, right now. He learned Dutch in the MTC and is in an area that speaks Flemish.  It's like being taught English, then being sent to the Mississippi bayou.  It's the same, just different.  He can’t understand their language and people are indifferent to his message. But, he’s got a good attitude and he’ll come through this a better man. I’ve always been proud of him, but in these past few months I’ve grown to admire him and the spirit he possesses.

Going through my mind all day has been this phrase: the work is hard. I had a physical examination today. As the doctor was examining my prostate, I couldn’t help but think that as uncomfortable as this was for me, this is his job. He may have to do this several times a day. The work is hard, indeed.

Niall probably doesn’t realize it, but he pretty much summed up life on earth. Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden and basically told, “Work hard if you want anything.” What a blessing it is to have hard work. There are many people today who would give almost anything to be back doing hard work. Then there are people who think that the rewards of hard work should be theirs without effort. Why? The Law of the Harvest is one of the greatest blessings we have in this life. We work and get rewarded. Depending on the path we chose the rewards may be monetary or they may be more spiritually gratifying, yet they do come. There are also roads we may take that cause the harvest to be disproportionately large or small, still the way we go is in our control.

Each day the roads spread out before us. Most of these roads are overgrown with disuse while one or two are worn smooth from constant travel. Roadside attractions go unnoticed as we robotically travel the trails we’ve trekked habitually for years. Once in a while it’s good to sharpen up the old machete and hack a new course.