What do workers gain from their toil? (Ecc. 3:9)
My first job was a cat walker. Martha was the cat’s owner—an elderly woman in her eighties who had lived an exciting yet simple life with her late husband. As I spent time with this tiny framed lady, only seventeen years old myself, I marveled at the tan wrinkles that seemed to tell a beautiful story. “Cat walker” was what Martha assumed my job must be. In reality, I had been hired to keep an eye on her, to take her to her favorite restaurant for pie and coffee each week, to hair appointments, to do some light cleaning, and to make sure she was eating well.
I had accepted the job to put gas in my car and have some spending money for shopping. What I gained was much more. Unable to have children, Martha and her husband, madly in love, chose to travel extensively. Now alone with memories and stories, Martha enjoyed simple pleasures like canned spinach, listening to an old record player, and of course, taking care of her cat.
Martha’s life and stories enriched my understanding of how one handles grief and pain and yet is able to belly laugh while enjoying pie and coffee—even spinach. Little did I know that I too would fall madly in love at eighteen, travel extensively, and not be able to bear children either.
Identify a priceless lesson God has taught you through work.
Wesley Seminary alumna, Sarah Cochran and her husband pastored for seventeen years, and now both work for an agency rescuing kids from sex trafficking worldwide.
© 2021 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
