Though most of us like to take a break from work to enjoy Labor Day, Ben and I traveled about an hour south to the home of some good friends who are in the process of renovating their house.
They purchased their lovely farmhouse on five acres a number of years ago but then needed to move out of state for work and subsequently decided to rent it out. After five years of being inhabited by less-than-ideal renters, it was almost heartbreaking to see how much work needed to be done to restore their beautiful home to regain its prior charm.
God is always good, though, and while the work seems slow-going, it has made for some very enjoyable work parties often followed by roasting s’mores around the bonfire. Though we consider them among our closest friends, I’m doubt we would have spent this much time together lately if it were not for the opportunities to help out!
In Ben’s recent post, The Sustainability Snowball, he mentioned that he had somehow “missed the Curse.” We often find it almost funny how much we enjoy working hard and seeing the results of our labor. And since both Ben and I have made our careers out of jobs that require us to sit in font of a computer, we especially like the kind of labor where you still feel the effects the next day! (Are we crazy or what…?!) Today, Ben spent nearly the entire day burning brush piles (while standing out under the hot sun, I might add!) and I helped paint a room and rip laters of wallpaper off a wall (in a cool basement with fans to help dry the paint!). Not the most backbreaking work, but it was definitely exhausting.
To be able to work hard, accomplish a task, and step back and feel the satisfaction of a job well done is something Ben and I value highly. Whether we missed the Curse or we simply have been instilled with an innate desire to gain our Father’s satisfaction, the results are the same. Perhaps this is why we aren’t phased when people remark on how much work it would take to maintain 20 acres, let alone turn 20 acres into a sustainable source of food and income.
And I’m not going to lie, often one of my doubts about our future is the amount of work it will take to accomplish our dreams. Not to mention, we plan on having a family one day, homeschooling our children, feeding them natural, organic, whole foods we grow ourselves, as well as continuing discipling others and being involved in our community. Our plates will be full, and often overwhelming, I’m sure, but it will just afford more opportunities for us to rely on Christ for strength rather than our own!
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
One of the evenings sitting around the fire at our friends’ house, the subject of an old fashioned barn raising came up. We talked about how the pioneers and homesteaders would build community through helping each other out and make a party out of raising each other’s barns. How cool would it be to see one’s neighborhood show up when work like that needed to be done?! Unfortunately, lately we have to drive about an hour each way to go help out with our “neighbors'” “barn raising,” but the satisfaction it brings is well worth the trip.
Despite my doubts and fears, I know that when the time comes, Jesus will supply a community of friends to help with our very own barn raising (and for any of you Avatar fans, Ben said we can have an “Earth Bending Party” when we raise the roof on our earth-sheltered Hobbit-hole!). I truly look forward to the day when our dreams will be realized and we can wake every morning not just to find satisfaction on this earth, but to hear the words of our Father say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21)