Today is Labor Day, a day when we as Americans honor the labor of our nation’s workers. And as such, it’s a fitting day to step back and consider what we actually think about “work.” Setting the holiday aside for a moment, what is your own conception of work? Is it something inherently good? Or a necessary evil? Is it one of the blessings of being human? Or a curse to be minimized at all costs?
If we see it as a curse, then the goal should be to do the least amount possible to get where we want. If we have the means, and can cease working entirely, then why not? If there’s nothing inherently good about work, then why do any more than is absolutely necessary?
But if work is seen as inherently good, our attitude towards it will change. We realize that it doesn’t have be shunned, but can be embraced; not simply endured, but even enjoyed.
It’s interesting to note that in the Judeo-Christian view of the world, work was part of the original creation. For six days God went about his “work” of creating. Adam and Eve were given the “work” of cultivating the Earth long before any corruption or brokenness entered the story. Work wasn’t a curse, but a gift. It was part of the human vocation from the beginning.
One of the challenges with talking about work, though, is that we often conflate work with the jobs we do. But work is, and should be, much bigger than that. It includes the mental and physical efforts we take in order to affect the world around us; the place where we use our skills and abilities to make a contribution.
And if we see work in this way, as something that transcends just the duties of our ‘jobs’, this will also in turn affect our view of retirement. If work is more than just our job, but about our contribution to the world, hopefully we see that retirement should not be about ceasing to “work” entirely. We may stop performing a certain role at a certain company, but that doesn’t entail ceasing to contribute with our minds and bodies. Rather, we may find greater flexibility to contribute in other ways.
We as humans were created to work, to contribute through our skills and abilities. The question is, will we embrace it, finding joy in bringing our skills and talents to the task at hand? Sometimes this only takes a shift in our mindset, realizing that work is far broader than just what we do for a paycheck. It’s the ability to contribute to the world around us; an opportunity to be embraced, not avoided.