“Fingers to the Bone” by Brown Bird
Reflection
As I face yet another reorg at my company, I’m reminded that I am expendable. Don’t get me wrong, I work for a good company that values its employees, but at the end of the day the company’s obligations are to the shareholders. No matter how hard I work or how far I advance in my career, one day it will all be gone. When I leave my company, hopefully through retirement and not another reason, there will be those who will miss me; but the work still needs to get done and someone else will fill the void I left, and I’ll quickly become an afterthought.
Work is what you are when you're breathing in and out
'Til your final breath falls to the floor
Why do we let work define us? Our job title, our paycheck, our success. I like the way this song succinctly puts it, “work is what you are.” Yes, we need jobs to provide for ourselves and our families, but is that all we are? Just a cog in the industrial machine? It sure feels that way sometimes. Following college, I got a good job, then got married shortly after. I was set. My hard work in school paid off and I was blessed with a beautiful wife. Now what? Go to work, come home, eat dinner, relax a bit, go to sleep, and repeat. And repeat, and repeat.
I started asking myself if this is all there was to life. I believed in Jesus, so I had my “golden ticket” to heaven. Now do I just work so I can pay for food, housing, and stuff I think will make my life more comfortable and enjoyable? Here I was having a mid-life crisis I was only 25. I always was an overachiever. I struggled with that question for years and I could share a lot about how the pieces slowly started to fall into place.
The key for me was to correct my view of heaven with the help of N.T. Wright and his book Surprised By Hope. What we do on this earth has eternal value. We aren’t getting whisked off this horrid planet when we die to a spiritual existence somewhere else. We are getting reborn to live on a restored Earth. And we can be part of that restoration now. We don’t just go to work to get paid; we go there to show God’s love to our coworkers. We don’t just earn money to buy comforts; we earn money to help those in need. Don’t be defined by your work but be defined by love of Christ that you share. I’m reminded of a No Fear t-shirt from my childhood that said, “He who dies with the most toys still dies.” Your job, wealth, and comforts are temporal but your labor of Godly restoration is eternal.
Links
Lyrics
I work my fingers to the bone
Not a pretty little penny have I got to show
I ain't looking for much
Just a little bit of rest by the side of the road
I lift my voice to the forces above
The lords of labor and the goddess of love
Ain't I been a good, hard working
Faithful servant and son?
Then the sky turns black
And it cracks with a thundering voice
Work is what you are when you're breathing in and out
'Til your final breath falls to the floor
So swing down that sledgehammer through the wood
A little test of mind over flesh oughta do you good
Get up off the ground
You can lay down when the day is done
And on the seventh day
You can lay in the morning sun
I want to make my home on a mountain high
Just me and my lover and the big old sky
I ain't asking for much
Just a little bit of rest before the day that I die
I lift my voice to the forces above
The lords of labor and the goddess of love
Ain't I been a good, hard working
Faithful servant and son
Then the sky turns black
And it cracks with a thundering voice
Work is what you are when you're breathing in and out
'Til your final breath falls to the floor
So swing down that sledgehammer through the wood
A little test of mind over flesh oughta do you good
Get up off the ground
You can lay down when the day is done
And on the seventh day
You can lay in the morning sun
Swing down that sledgehammer through the wood
A little test of mind over flesh oughta do you good
Get up off the ground
You can lay down when the day is done
And on the seventh day
You can lay in the morning sun