The Dignity of Work
CNN reports that Geoffrey Owens "has found a silver lining after being thrust into the spotlight for simply doing his job." Owens, who played Elvin Tibideaux on "The Cosby Show" was recently photographed bagging groceries at a New Jersey Trader Joe's.
"I got to the point that I needed to take a job to pay my bills, to support my family, it was basically that," Owens said. Owens income took a hit after reruns of "The Cosby Show" were pulled due to Cosby's conviction of sexual assault last spring.
"I lost a lot of money from that," Owens said. "I don't feel sorry for myself about that. But the fact is that was another contributing factor, along with everything else everyone has to deal with -- medical bills, car issues, kids in college, you name it.
"What I hope continues to resonate is the idea that one job is not better than another," Owens said. "A certain job might pay more, it might have better benefits, it might look better on paper, but that essentially one kind of work isn't better than another kind of work, that we reevaluate that whole idea and we start honoring the dignity of work and the dignity of the working person."
I recall the story of two men who were discussing the TV programs they had watched the previous evening. One man mentioned his remote control device, which he used to change channels from his easy chair. “That is one luxury I can get along without,” said the other man. He continued: “It’s a sad day when I get so lazy that I can’t tell my wife or daughter to get up and change the channel.”
It is Scripture that reminds us of the dignity of work and the dignity of the working person. In the very first book of Scripture, Genesis, we read: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it" (Genesis 2:15). Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, tells us “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters" (Colossians 3:23).
A Prayer of Last Resort
Hannah was married to Elkanah, who also had another wife named Pininnah. Hannah was ridiculed by Pininnah because she was barren, so she pleaded with the Lord for a son. After years of frustration, we read in 1 Samuel that, "Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the LORD. And she made this vow: 'O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime'" (1 Samuel 1:10-11, NLT).
God heard Hannah's humble prayer and she conceived and had a son she named Samuel. As soon as Samuel was weaned, Hannah took him to the temple and entrusted him to Eli, the priest, just as she had promised. And even though she would only have Samuel for a couple of years before turning him over to Eli, and would only see him once a year during the families annual trip to Shiloh, Hannah's sorrow was turned to joy.
"My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord.
I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.
No one is holy like the Lord, for there is none besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God" (I Samuel 2:1-2).
The Bible tells us that it was God who had closed Hannah's womb; that her barrenness was a part of His plan. The fruit of Hannah's striving was her promise; if God would give her the son she so desperately wanted, she would, in turn, dedicate him completely to the Lord's service. Hannah's spiritual struggle ended the same way our's do; when we are finally willing to relinquish the very thing we most desire!
Hannah's prayer of sacrificial dedication captured God's heart. As we read in II Chronicles 16:9; "For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His."
God's intentions are better than ours. Samuel would become an important judge during the period of the judges and a key prophet at a transitional time in Israel's history. Hannah wanted a son for herself but she was given a son for the entire nation.
Sun v Shade
... Did you know that shade doesn’t make temperatures cooler. In fact, air temperature is actually the same in the sun or shade. It’s solar radiation hitting our bodies which makes it feel hotter. On average, solar radiation makes the air feel 10 -15 degrees warmer than it actually is.
This is why official air temperature is always measured in the shade. If the thermometer were placed in the sun, the solar radiation would heat up the thermometer and the resulting temperature would be measuring the warmed up thermometer and not the air around the thermometer. -- ABC News
In the heat of the day, we run to shade for shelter -- some measure of relief from the searing radiation that makes our bodies sweat and our skin burn.
However, the exact reverse is true when we are cold and shivering. We long to step out from the shade, in the hopes of capturing any measure of warmth from the sun's rays to warm our bodies and alleviate the chill.
Scripture is repleat with references to the metaphorical, protective wings of the Lord, spread over us to shield and protect. Often times, as we duck under for cover, we find instant relief from whatever drama, trial, or tragedy has befallen us.
Yet sometimes, we step under the shelter of the Lord's wings and we find no immediate relief. We find the cold and cruelty of our circumstances "feel" no different, no warmer there.
The Lord's protection is no instant panacea, defined quite literally as "a solution or remedy for all difficulties or diseases." As often as not, the Lord's "protection" will take us through the cold hard trial, rather than around it.
Corrie ten Boom, a WWII concentration camp survivor, in her acclaimed book, The Hiding Place, described the pain of standing for hours, at attention before her Nazi captors, in the freezing cold of the pre-dawn hours, or huddled on the wooden bunks, sharing blankets and body heat against the crippling chill of the winter nights in captivity. Why was there no relief from her cold, hard trials? Where, in those moments, were the wings of God's protection?
They were spread wide over her, just as He promised!
Speaking of their times gathered around a small, smuggled bible, she would write,
Like waifs clustered around a blazing fire, we gathered about it, holding out our hearts to its warmth and light. The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the Word of God.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
I would look about us as Betsie read, watching the light leap from face to face. More than conquerors ... It was not a wish. It was a fact.
We knew it, we experienced it minute by minute--poor, hated, hungry. We are more than conquerors. Not 'we shall be.' We are!
Life in Ravensbruck took place on two separate levels, mutually impossible. One, the observable, external life, grew every day more horrible. The other, the life we lived with God, grew daily better, truth upon truth, glory upon glory."
Indeed, in the cruelest of firey trials or chilling challenges, His wings are spread over us. Though we often find no immediate relief for our circumstances, we can (and DO!) find relief for our souls!
"For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless" (Psalm 84:11, NIV).
"Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills [his purpose] for me" (Psalm 57:1, ESV).
“Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the SHADOW of thy wings” (Psalm 17:8, NIV)