At Work and Play in God's Garden and Beyond
Jeanette randolph Rollins
January 1, 1996
"I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do. … " —John 17:4
Recently a man came to our home to rekey the locks. He dismantled the heavy old bolts, remarking their value as he admired their weight and workmanship. He had taught himself his trade through a correspondence course while working in his native West Virginia and had in the years since mastered residential and automotive alarm systems. A few years ago he moved to New Orleans for a new job—better pay and more work. He now earns enough for his wife to be able to stay at home to care for their young children, he told me, as he deftly disassembled and reassembled our locks according to a design unknown to me. His young son delights in accompanying his father on these missions and plays at being a locksmith like his dad with his own tools at home.
He rekeyed the locks for the last tenants, he tells me, but these sloppy specimens we've been using are assuredly not his keys. Out in his truck he cuts shiny new ones. They are sharp, clean, and turn smoothly. No more jiggling, wrestling, scowling at resistant locks. He knows before I try them how neatly they will fit.
His work and our conversation filled me with admiration and longing—that old longing to know that my life and work are truly valuable, significant, a worthy offering to God and a service to my neighbor. His work was precise, concretely valuable, even beautiful. He did something much-needed that I, with all my liberal education, could not do for myself. His son is proud of his dad and can explain to his friends his father's work.
As Christians, most of us know the yearning to honor and serve God in our work. Simultaneously, however, we find ourselves amidst ...
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