Work

by Mark A. Turner

As a pre-teen and a teenager, I had one way to get in shape each year. It would take one week. One week of walking up and down watermelon rows. Turning them over, picking them up, tossing them to the next guy, tossing them on a truck, or catching them from the guy before you, or catching them on the truck, laying them down, and catching another one as fast as they could bring them. You went home, showered, ate, and woke up in the dark the next morning to do it again. During the night, you wake up, sit in bed with your arms, and move your left to right. Dreaming that you were still working. We never worked on Sundays. That was the point in time when one or two farmers tried to get people to work on Sundays. That was near when local guys quit working because farmers wanted people who would work on Sundays. That second week, you could get out of bed easily; you could be at work where the bottom half of your pants from your knees down were soaking wet from the dew, and you worked all day without your muscles being exhausted—even hefting the 50 to 80-pound watermelons.

The money from working bought my own clothes. I also bought two steers and one hog with Mike Warren, which I grew, stocked, and took to the bin where they processed it. I'm a bit fuzzy about how much of the garden was the family and how much of it was mine because the garden was part of my 4-H project. Other things I did with the livestock were part of FFA projects. Included in that time of my life was public speaking in 4H. Learning the 4H creed is something that everyone in society could benefit from. It stays with you your entire life and in everything you ever do.

All of that to say, I’m back home. Those things are what help shape me and make me. Working at Winn-Dixie, Morrisons, cafeteria management training, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, road guard, and even my preaching and teaching for 30 years benefited from the time I spent growing up on the farm and in a small town.

When my wife was sick, we knew she needed fresh, homegrown food without pesticides. I told her I could grow anything. I could not. Not where I was living. I can now, and I will. Today, I have corn, yellow squash, and onions in the ground. I had some green beans and other greens in the ground a couple of days ago. I’m trying to grow my garden for the freshness in nutrition and health benefits but never underestimate it. The greatest benefit is being in the dirt yourself and being out there working. The labor. The work. The first commandment is to love God. The second is to love our neighbor. But the first command in the Old Testament was to work. God gave me a job, and He said to take care of it. This earth is yours to take care of it. Get to work.

A freeze is coming in a few days, but then the ground will be just fine.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going" (Ecclesiastes 9:10).