Labor = Gifts

Monday, September 1, 2014 is Labor Day.


Labor Day is a day to kick back from our work, get a day off and pig out at family barbecues. Right?

Labor Day is a day to support those laborers who unionized, and fought for fair employment wages and conditions. Right?

Labor Day is the last official day of the summer season. Time to sweep out the camper or cottage, close it down for the winter, and head home for work, or school.  Right?

All of the above ARE right. But all of these totally miss the point, if you are a person of Faith.

Yes, God made the world, and on the seventh day, He rested. So we should, too.

Yes, everyone should have the human right to a clean, safe work environment, and wages that do not reduce one to the horrible status of slavery.

Yes, God made the seasons. And Fall is upon us; and so, go on to the next season, we must.

But what do Americans - and believers in God -- really believe about our Labors?

Disney executive Bob Iger delivered a commencement speech in May, in which he stated flatly that, in this lean economy, the best advice he could give for success was to follow your Talents. NOT to follow your Dreams. And you know what?! He was roundly criticized for this!

It is considered un-American to coach young people NOT to follow their Dreams. . . .

Yet, I happen to agree with Mr. Iger!  When I was a tiny girl, my Dream was to be a ballerina. Many decades later, I am fairly short, I am not stick- thin and I have bad knees.  As you can imagine, I did not become a ballerina.

One's Dreams can be gloriously fantastic. But they can fall far short of reality.

On the other hand, I was writing poems by the time I was 8. Once, when I read one of my poems aloud in my class at school, every single student stood up and clapped. They gave me a standing ovation. Today, I write this blog.

Mozart was one of the most famous composers in the world. When Mozart was 5, he was already composing symphonies.

Frank Lloyd Wright was a famed American architect. His favorite toy as a child was a set of blocks.

Then, there is my vacuum salesman and technician. He told me that when he was a young boy, he used to take apart his mother's and grandmother's vacuum cleaners, to see if he could fix them. Today, he is still doing that, in his grown-up career !

Our talents are our Gifts. Our Gifts come from God. Our Gifts are our in-born affinities and abilities.

The task of parents and teachers is to help young people find their true Talents. Then, our Gifts can become our Labor.

If we think that we can literally become anything we want to, then we are forgetting our God-given talents.  If we think that we can mold a young person into something that WE want them to be doing, then we are playing God.

Even if we cannot make a living wage following our Talents and Gifts, then still ---no human being can make us into anything  else. We do what we Love. We do what we are gifted with. If you love to sing, you may only sing in the Choir, but you are still serving God with your Gifts.

We ARE our Gifts.

Love your God. Love your Gifts. Love your Labor.

[Related Posting: " Labor Day",September 6, 2011; "My Labor Day, Myself August 28, 2013; " My Labor of Love", August 30, 2012;  "Burying My Talents.", November 13, 2011].

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2014. All Rights Reserved.