Work for the worker !

These two Maisons have been building this wall of fifty meters long and four meters tall for the last one week in our garden in the backyard of our cottage. The rain disrupted the work on two days in between.

At one stage the work when completed on Saturday evening, was such that the senior Maison thought best to continue the work on Sunday as filling the space between the newly built wall and the earthen support behind it was crucial, lest in case of rain water getting collected in between the wall and the earthen wall behind would lead to straining the newly built wall. 

I have been used to keeping Sunday as a day of rest, certainly to keep it different from the rest of the other days. When the senior Maison noticed my reluctance to let them work on Sunday, he being a catholic told me that he would start the work on Sunday after attending the mass in the church. He told me that, for him, work was worship. He too does not go for his regular work on Sundays. He felt that he needed to work on the wall on Sunday also for the work to provide the support for the newly built wall by filling behind it with soil. He had a premonition that it might rain on Sunday and it would probably wreck his work. He hated his work to go waste. He considered his work as creation. He was an evangelist giving me a new perspective and outlook to work.

So when he worked on Sunday to complete the corner portion of the wall and fill the in between space with soil, I found devotion and resolve to make his work 'bear fruit'. Just after he finished it by about 2 pm, a torrential down pour led to water flowing from the top through the built in area. As the space behind the wall was filled with soil, water escaped over the wall and did get collected in between the newly built wall and the earth behind.  

Later in the evening after three hours of heavy rain, he came back to inspect the wall. He was confident that the wall withstood the heavy down pour.

This Maison, Roy gave me a few tips about work. He regards work as creation. He feels responsible for his work so that it lasts. He views his work as worship because he can do what he does well only if God blesses his work. So he depends on God to make the labour of his hands to stay. He protects his work by responsible follow up action. 

Jesus of Nazareth viewed work as doing good. I experienced that outlook to work in this Maison.

I sit back gratefully for the lessons received from this Maison.

Others are our teachers. They bring something more than what we are familiar with. To regard others as our resources is a starting point to make life richer.

The neighbour who brings milk to us everyday in the morning remembers to greet Daphney and Dulcie in a kind way, so much so when she is still at the gate, they both look towards the gate greeting her with a friendly bark! She teaches our dogs to reciprocate in a friendly manner. She works thinking of others.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)