A Great Work

One of the great things about having company is that Legos get picked up.

Our three older children were tasked with this mission and went (somewhat somberly) into the basement to do this thankless task.  Eventually, they reemerged with the news that the task was done.

Vince came up the stairs last of all.  "Dad," he told me.  "We are all done.  As we were picking up Legos, I thought of a verse that goes well with it."

"What verse is that, Vince?"  I asked him.

"'I am doing a great work,'" he told me.  "I won't tell you the rest of the verse because it doesn't go as well with it.  But it is about Nehemiah and how he was doing a great work and could not stop it, even though Tobiah (Nehemiah's enemy) wanted him to."

The verse is from the book of Nehemiah (6:3).  Nehemiah was doing the daunting task of rebuilding the city walls around Jerusalem and was opposed by various men who tried to distract him from the work.  His answer each time was that he was doing a great work and could not come down and leave the work.

I suppose it is easy to think of only "big things" as a great work.  Things like, say, building a wall around a capital city, climbing Mt. Everest, or competing in a hot dog eating contest.  But life is made up of a lot more small tasks that don't seem particularly great or important.

It is awfully easy in the midst of these not so great tasks to get side tracked by interesting, but relatively unimportant things.  Whether we are picking up Legos, building a wall around Jerusalem, or raising children, it is important to remember that the job is important and most be completed before the next one is begun.

Few things are as discouraging as having to pick up a room full of Legos, but there are plenty that take longer and more rewarding in the end.

Whatever task we are facing, we must not stop, for we are doing a great work.