The Salad Days

Work...house...family...faith. It all converges everyday. But sometimes it seems to converge more than other times, if that makes any sense. This week was one of those times. The fact that our house closed during a particularly difficult week at work was ironic to me. I work for my house, my command to work is informed by my faith, my house and family and how I treat them are linked to my faith, and my house and family are supported by my work. But it is only at times like these where the necessity of all three becomes real to me. Only when there is struggle on every front does the necessity of each become so apparent.

Work takes me away from family, yet my family cannot survive without it. My family needs the home we bought this week, but my faith challenges certain elements of my job, and since my job supports the house and the family, all becomes heavy and confused.

I can hear Levon Helm singing in the distance...take a load off.

It seems as though it should be simple. The reality of Ecclesiastes is there. I need to work, and come home and enjoy my family. But sometimes the harsh reality of work is a weight that is difficult to bear. I should be simply grateful for the ability to support my family, but that reality does not sink in. My job is unfulfilling to me, but it allows me to take part in the most fulfilling part of my life. The thing which causes the weight is that one cannot very well exist without the other.