Idleness is the soul’s enemy, so therefore at determined times the brothers (and sisters) out to be occupied with manual labor, and again at determined hours in Lectio Divina. (Rule of St. Benedict: 48:1)
For the past couple of days, I’ve developed a pretty strong attachment to my leaf blower, a precious gift I received from my sister last summer. The degree of instant-gratification neatness it creates is astonishing and I’m blown away (HA!) by how easy it is to use. Within the past week I’ve used it at least every other day. Over the top? Maybe. But I’m enthusiastic. My back yard is pretty big and the number of leaves it collects is too daunting for even my broad-toothed monster rake to handle.
Monday I took care of the back – blew off the patio and mowed. Tuesday I raked up all the pesky magnolia pods (akin to pine cones of the north, but heavier, sharp, and hazardous to my mower’s health), blew the leaves from the pavement to the yard to suck them up while I cut the grass (a simple approach I learned from my neighbor), and took care of the troddened-black leaves on the side of the house. Hours and hours of time outside and back-breaking, soul-stirring work.
And I loved it. Every single minute.
On both occasions, I came in filthy as sin and in humbling need of a good clean-up; but the satisfaction I felt from doing such hard work was amazing. My yard was beautiful and conducive for toddler-play and the patio was a clean place for Andrew and me to sit and enjoy the milder weather. Here in Looziana, any unattended property is fire ant and spider heaven, so keeping it tidy keeps my kids bite-free. Plus, I love being able to live in my back yard, which lies untouched and unseen for the duration of the oppressively hot summers.
I tried articulating the level of thrill I get from yard work to Andrew. Though he doesn’t mind a good morning of grass-cutting, he acknowledges my pleasure as singular. If I get to be outside enjoying mid-70 temps, walking behind a mower and blowing off the patio add to the experience. Truly, though, this isn’t about just being outside. It’s about work. Hard work. And the dignity found therein.
One of the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching is The Dignity of Work and Rights of Workers (check out Bl. JPII’s Laborem Exercens and Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum). Though it discusses work as making a living and earning income to stabilize one’s own domestic church (the family), it more generally focuses on work as a participation in God’s creation. In working, we’re cultivating God’s gifts – accepting them, tending to them, keeping them, and allowing them to continue. I think this is the underlying theme of my seemingly inexplicable joy in yard work and it can be found in any good work – staying at home with kids, teaching, insurance, food service, odd jobs around the house, delivering a baby, name it! A job completed in the spirit of fostering God’s gifts (like your home or yard!) is one that gives the worker a sense of humble self-worth because he understands how his existence relates to others, especially God. I love this quotation from Blessed John Paul II’s encyclical, which elaborates in a much better way:
Work is a good thing for man – a good thing for his humanity- because through work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfilment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes “more a human being”.
And that’s exactly it. I feel more human when I’m working hard and especially when I get to enjoy the fruits of my labor so immediately. Work has a terrible stigma pinned to it that reads NO FUN and UNDESIRABLE because of the effort it requires that some would rather not exert. It’s often used as punishment or discipline, but consider that work itself was divinely assigned to man before the fall. Genesis 1:28 calls man to “fill the earth and subdue it” and two verses earlier, God gave man dominion over creation. You can’t take what you have and just leave it alone – you have to take care of it in order to reap its benefits.
Don’t get me wrong – I am not this enthusiastic for all of my work as a wife, mother, and homeowner. There are times when the idea of working by the sweat of my brow doesn’t sound so exhilarating and I’d rather just get some R&R or do something that excites. I’m not nearly as giddy over my washer, dryer, or dish scrubber as I am over my leaf blower; but if we get beyond the hedonistic idea of “it’s not fun so I’m not going to,” and see work for what it truly is – a glorifying participation in God’s creation and fulfillment of a divine order – there is satisfaction and joy to be found.
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