Blog 2664 – 02.13.2023

“Then Away To The Work I Will Go”

Today’s title is a line from a Christian hymn that I sang as a boy that compares evangelistic work to harvesting grain, a favorite metaphor of Jesus. The only picture of the boy Jesus in canonized scripture is the one of him at twelve in the Temple discussing (arguing) scripture with the wisemen. When asked by his parents who had frantically searched for him for days, thinking him lost, he said, “Did you not know that I must be about my father’s business?”

The saying goes, “Love what you do and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I was finally able to quit my day job and retire a little over a year ago. A work mate years ago told me that his dream job was becoming a test pilot in a mattress factory. I spent the last ten years or so of my working career as a contract inspector and was grateful for work assignments that allowed me to see so many different places and meet so many interesting people.

For almost eight years I have been writing this daily blog and I have no plans to retire from this work. A line from one of my favorite movie, Hope Floats, describes the capitalist idea of work as turning and twisting the thing you love, trying to turn it into a profit making enterprise, till you lose sight of why you ever wanted to do it. The true artist does what they do for the love of their art and many are never recognized nor their work appreciated till long after they have passed. They just do the work silently trusting the result to the future.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J6W6kC4gHNSMXCToLV67Gy9eX98gtA-E/view?usp=drivesdk

Starry Starry Night (Vincent)