My maternal grandfather grew up on a farm in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. There were already plenty of farm hands in the family by the time he was born. He is the youngest of 18. But he pulled his weight in the fields as soon as he was old enough. In the 1930s his family grew tomatoes for Campbell’s soup.
After my paternal grandfather returned home from World War II, he worked at a printing company with some of his brothers. By the time I was born, he was retired, but he still had some huge rolls of paper from the print shop for us to color on.
Billie Burchell, my paternal grandmother, was in the Army in World War II before she married and became a homemaker.
Both of my grandmothers stayed home to raise their families. They cooked, cleaned, washed, ironed, and sewed. They didn’t have paid employment, but, boy, did they work hard!
Once my mother and her siblings were out of the house, my maternal grandmother worked as a volunteer ambulance driver and firefighter. It was not something that many 50-something year old women do, but she was glad to serve her community.
Ordinary Work
My family tree as a whole represents a variety of work. Going further back in history, my ancestors include a salt mine owner, carpenter, shoe maker, preacher, weaver, welder, small-town lawyer, and many other jobs.
This Labor Day weekend, I’ve been reflecting on the ordinary jobs my ancestors have done and how they contrast with what my Millennial generation has been pumped up to do. We have been encouraged to follow our dreams, reach for the stars, and do something big. Start a business, build a big church program ministry, and personally disciple the entire population of underprivileged youth in the area.
Reaching for the Stars?
The work I do week in and week out hardly qualifies as reaching for the stars. Behind every dirty dish I wash is a mountain of ever-multiplying dirty dishes. One week at my office job leads to the next. Dishes and my office job are necessary and important and I like doing them (well, I like doing my office job at least 🙂 ), but they wouldn’t be found in a catalog of “follow your dreams career choices.”
But lately I’ve noticed in Scripture that God is less concerned about what we do and more concerned about the attitude with which we do it.
Work or Whatever: Colossians 3:17
Smack dab in the middle of a passage about everyday ordinary life as a Christian, Paul says “and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17).
I love that Paul doesn’t mention any details about the tasks he has in mind. It’s “whatever.” The specifics of the work are not the important part.
What matters is the faithfulness and thankfulness I bring to the task. This is the big work. This is work in the name of the Lord Jesus.
This reflection first appeared in The Antiochan Report, the weekly newsletter from Church Extension Ministries of the Bible Fellowship Church.
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Rachel, so enjoyed getting the link to your page and blog. This is a great reminder of the importance of the “whatever” and especially the attitude that goes with it. I didn’t know about the printing business work; who all did that? We have such a rich history and one blessed beyond measure.
Thank you, Linda! My dad has been working on writing down his memories so I looked at his writing. Here is what he said:
Almost all of his working years my father Alexander Davidson was as an employee of Davidson & Black, a small printing company located in Philadelphia, a couple of blocks from the Ben Franklin Bridge.
(A couple of years before retiring at age 65, he continued as an offset printer, but at different company. Davidson & Black was either bought out or simply went out of business. I don’t remember which it was.)
No, my father was not the “Davidson” in “Davidson & Black.” That Davidson was my Uncle Dan (sibling #4). Uncle Dan had a white-collar position. His role was to secure clients for the business. His partner Andy Black also had a white-collar job. He managed the shop.
As I recall the shop consisted of six or eight large printing presses along with the associated equipment (e.g. paper cutters). The employees numbered around six or eight, depending on how the business was going. Among them were my Uncle Tom (sibling #6), my father Al (#8), my Uncle Joe (#10), and my Uncle John (#11).