21st Century Gleening
I think anyone with a Western Worldview could finish the following maxim, “Finders Keepers…”
I have always been a guy that gets his money’s worth. I used to eat at buffets because I made sure I ate more than I paid for, and then I entered my mid thirties and that practice caught up with me requiring a lot of exercise. I always look for the best price on the best stuff. If I can pay a dollar less I’ll buy it from an e-tailer I have never done business with. I have been known to lick candy bar wrappers, and yogurt containers, and I have stuck my hand in a urinal to save change. (You just judged me didn’t you.) I’ve seldom left a penny on the ground for another to find and certainly never money in value over a nickel.
I have left little in my life for the gleaners. I have never seen money on the ground and thought, “I don’t need that. I’ll let someone else find it.”
While the culture is different from the agricultural days of Leviticus I wonder what I could leave behind for the less fortunate, and who are the less fortunate for whom I am supposed to provide. I work for a company and my check is direct deposited. I don’t produce anything, but maybe I should.
Maybe I should find a way to produce something so I can leave some behind.
The question is what and for whom?
Or maybe the answer to that question is that I can start to live my life by a new maxim, “Finders Leavers, Losers Gleaners.”
9 “‘When you gather in the harvest of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest.
10 You must not pick your vineyard bare, and you must not gather up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19)
Why do you work?
Why do you work?
It may seem like a simple question, but there are multiple layers to the answers we give.
Answer 1: Because I can. I work because I can work. Somehow someone saw me as valuable and they hired me to do a job that was worth doing.
Answer 2: Because I should. God interpreted man’s existence quite simply in Genesis 2:15. He was to work and care for creation. A few thousand years go by and God commands a nation of former slaves, who undoubtedly worked long days every day, to work six days and rest on the seventh (Exodus 34:21). And in Thessalonica Paul instructs the church that he who does not work should not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). I earn a living and this should be a testimony to the redemption that has taken place in my life.
Answer 3: Because I am. I am an ambassador of Jesus Christ. I am an adopted son of the Most High God. I am bought by the blood of Jesus to do good. I have been reconciled with God to do what God originally intended. So, in the use of my skills, gifts, and talents I glorify Him who gave His life for my sake. Creating, serving, working are acts of worship because I am Redeemed.
Thoughts inspired by Ann Voskamp’s Do You Feel Broken And Fragmented?
Talent is something…but it’s not everything
I had a friend growing up who could do impressions, was extremely quick witted, and could probably have done something like this if he could sing. I never heard him sing. There is an X factor that takes talent and develops it into a success in our culture. These two guys definitely found the X factor. Some of it is luck, but a lot of it is hard work. And the key is that they LOVE the work.
I think that is the X factor.
You can LOVE doing something and not be very talented at it. YouTube is full of examples of that.
However, you can also be extremely talented at something and hate doing it. In both cases you fail to be successful in the craft.
So, what is holding you back? Talent or attitude? If it’s talent, then find something at which you are better. If it’s attitude, then maybe you should re-evaluate your motivation for the work and for your life.