We celebrate Labor Day today in the US. I’m working half a day for time and a hal.f (I’m in the healthcare industry re: day job and we needed a skeleton crew today).

This feels like a great day to reflect on work.

Work can be a drudgery and a frustration, but it truly is a blessing.

It develops virtues like patience, perseverance, and consistency. It challenges and stretches us. It teaches us to overcome obstacles. It allows us to be creative. It humbles us.

Work shows us that we are not in ultimate control of pretty much anything in life–because we all know, no matter what our job is, SOMETHING is going to be there to throw a wrench in it.

Work teaches us that the world does not revolve around us. It gives us the opportunity to help others and to contribute meaningfully to society.

Though we all grumble about work from time to time, there is real dignity in any honest work, including domestic work. Human society requires work to function–ESPECIALLY the domestic work of raising children.

We all have our place. We are all called to work in some form or capacity, physically, mentally, or spiritually. And it’s a fact that, if we don’t do the work we are called to do, someone ELSE will have to do it in addition to their own.

There are LOTS of issues with the modern, corporate workplace that I won’t go into here. We could, and should, improve the modern work environment. Workers could be encouraged to feel dignified, seen, and appreciated in their roles, however humble these may be.

There is more dignity in honest work than I think we are able to recognize in this life. Work can be difficult to embrace, but it is worth embracing.