- Work is good and godly, and a state and nation that honors honest labor and take sweat and dirty hands seriously will know God’s prosperity.
When you need someone to lift your hood and tell you what to do about your transmission, a philosophy major probably won’t do the trick.
Governor Tate Reeves announced Thursday that he had appointed Dr. Daniel “Deano” Harrison as Director of the Mississippi Office of Apprenticeship, also known as ApprenticeshipMS, according to the Magnolia Tribune.
Harrison’s new role means bringing together industry leaders, training partners, workforce development experts and others to strengthen Mississippi’s apprenticeship system. I don’t know much about government being the answer, and I don’t know Harrison, but the outcome seems like a hugely important task.
Here’s why: for too long, we have perpetuated the myth that real success in life requires getting a college education – bachelor’s, master’s and even a Ph.D., finding a high-paying desk job, and waiting out the next few decades until it’s time for a cushy retirement.
Meanwhile, what our state really needs is plumbers, welders, mechanics, builders, and technicians. Personal confession here – I have one of those Ph.D.s, my wife has her masters, and every one of our six children graduated from a private Christian liberal arts college. Five of them have completed master’s degrees, and three of them either have or soon will have a doctorate. But…
While college is a great decision for some, this state and nation need many more high school graduates who choose another path to prosperity by working with their hands providing both goods and services that are essential to our society.
Douglas Hyde, in his masterful volume Dedication and Leadership, describes attending a Mass in a little church in the Southeast Asian jungle. An Indian priest was addressing his impoverished congregation about Resurrection Sunday. He told them of the women looking for Jesus at the tomb. But the priest said, “You do not have to look around a garden to find the risen Lord. He is in your hands.”
Sitting near Hyde was an old man whose legs were gnarled and wrapped with varicose veins. He lifted up his hands – calloused, bruised, with broken nails – and stared at them in awe. As the sermon continued, the old man kept looking down because his hands had gained entirely new meaning. His labor – however menial and degrading it might seem to others – had become purposeful. In the shop, or the drainage ditch, or struggling down the road in front of a trishaw, his work now had Kingdom worth.
The Bible is clear – work is a blessing, and all the better if it involves our hands. The first thing we know about God is that He was a worker (In the beginning, God created…then He rested from that “work” of creating). Adam was a gardener, Noah was a builder, Abraham and his family were herdsmen, Rebekah was a water-carrier. Exodus begins with two midwives whose faithful labor had eternal consequences. Bezalel and Oholiab were called by God to create and led spinners, weavers, embroiderers, metalworkers, woodworkers, and other artisans in crafting the tabernacle. Ruth labored in the field, while Boaz owned land and employed workers. David was a shepherd; Abigail, a household manager. A whole host rebuilt Jerusalem’s dilapidated walls. The excellent wife of Proverbs 31 was a producer, merchant, manager and businesswoman. Amos was a herdsman, Jesus called fishermen, Lydia – a businesswoman, Priscilla and Aquila were tentmakers alongside Paul, Tabitha – a seamstress.
This is just a smattering of a much longer biblical list.
The point is, work is good and godly, and a state and nation that honors honest labor and take sweat and dirty hands seriously will know God’s prosperity. Martin Luther said, “If he is a Christian tailor, he will say: I make these clothes because God has bidden me do so…so that I can help and serve my neighbor.”
My hunch? God is calling more people into working apprenticeships today than ever before, and we should do all we can as a culture to appreciate that calling.
Matt Friedeman
