How to find Joy in Work

How to find joy in Work

(or how to smile while changing a diaper.)

THE LORD & WORK

What would happen if everyone refused to work anymore?

• Read Doctrine & Covenants 42:42
  
• Read Doctrine & Covenants 68:30
  
• Read Doctrine & Covenants 75:28-29
  

How does the Lord feel about work?

Read Moses 5:1

• President J. Reuben Clark said "I believe that we are here to work, and I believe there is no escape from it. I think that we cannot get that thought into our souls and into our beings too soon. Work we must, if we shall succeed or if we shall advance. There is no other way."
  
• President Gordon B. Hinckley said "We are all inherently lazy. We would rather play than work…But it is work that spells the difference in the life of a man or woman." In our world today, many people are unwilling to work hard and to render an honest day's work for an honest day's pay."
  
• Elder Boyd K. Packer said "There is great dignity and worth in any honest occupation. Do not use the word menial for any labor that improves the world or the people who live in it. There is no shame in any honorable work. Honest work is and always has been an instrument of provident living and a vital component of our religion."
  
• President Kimball said "The worthwhile things of life are not the things you just want to do. They're the things you should do. You're headed for a total loss if you only do the thing you want to do."
  
• President Brigham Young said that is was nonsense to talk about building up any kingdom except by labor, it requires the labor of every part of our organization, whether it be physical, or spiritual, and that is the only way to build up the kingdom of God."
  
• President Ezra Taft Benson said "Energetic, purposeful work leads to vigorous health, praiseworthy achievement, a clear conscience, and refreshing sleep. Work has always been a boon to man. May you have a wholesome respect for labor whether with head, heart or hand. May you ever enjoy the satisfaction of honest toil."
  
• President Brigham Young said "Each will find that happiness in this world mainly depends on the work he does, and the way in which he does it."
  

  
  

WOMEN & WORK

• "Enjoy to the End" words and music by Ann Luke Bailey
  

"Let me tell you a story about a girl full of love and laughter,

who grew up with the notion that once you were wed

You'd live happily ever after.

For she'd reached her life's goal,

But had not passed away,

And she didn't know what to do next!

Life was new and exciting with the challenge of growing and sharing.

And, except for a couple of quarrels,

They'd managed to keep their home full of caring

But before it seemed possible there were babies in every room

And the girl who was laughing and carefree before

Changed to riding around on her broom!

One day mom called to pull me up out of a heap.

I told her Momma, I'm changing diapers in my sleep!

And she said you've just got to

Endure to the end.

But I'm simply not sure

That is there is an end.

So I'm trying a cure I can recommend

I'll not only endure it all.

But I'm gonna enjoy to the end!

Now my life's in a new phase.

And the problem with diapers has minimized

For my babies have grown and believe me

The challenges seem oversized.

There are mud pies in my oven,

Full of things I've been missing and looking for.

And I just found my oil container

And children are sliding all over my floor.

We do soccer and baseball,

Then on Thursday it's piano and clogging

Then somewhere between scouting and homework

I try to squeeze in a months worth of jogging.

Then my well meaning husband

Recommends that the children help out

Now it takes twice as long

To do half do the work

But I guess that's what life's all about.

Then on Sunday as we go to church I scream out this expletive

FOLD YOUR'E ARMS AND BE REVERENT IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!!

Then I go in and they tell me

Endure to the end.

But I'm simply not sure

That is there is an end.

So I'm trying a cure I can recommend

I'll not only endure it all.

But I'm gonna enjoy to the end!

Now I know a lady

And her children have flown from the nest

But she's quick to explain

That she still doesn't seem to get very much rest.

She takes care of her mother now

And the grandkids come through in a steady stream

And she tries to do more

Except once she gets started

Her body just runs out of steam.

Once I told her I thought that my life would be

Better next year. She told me,

It doesn't get better

It only gets different my dear.

So I guess I'll just have to go on and

Endure to the end.

But I'm simply not sure

That is there is an end.

So I'm trying a cure I can recommend

I'll not only endure it all.

But I'm gonna enjoy to the end!

• Emma C. Seegmiller's recollection of living in Utah describes: "The first two or three years…proved a tremendous struggle for life's necessities and as a result of that necessity women as well as men had to work hard. In fact work always seemed to be waiting for them in spinning, weaving, carding, tailoring, dyeing cloth, and sewing, knitting, making straw hats…For years women washed, carded and spun wool into yarn and wove it into cloth on the hand loom.
  
• For some women the already rigorous work routine was compounded even more difficult circumstances: "I worked very hard while my husband was away on a mission. I worked in a harvest field…I was not the only woman who worked in the field. But it came hard on me because I was not used to that kind of work…it was always late at night when I came home.
  
• Life then was not easy, but it was satisfying, for doing something that needs to be done, whether routine or extraordinary, feels good. There is genuine satisfaction in work, especially in work done well and for a good purpose. No sociological case studies need be conducted to demonstrate this cause-and-effect phenomenon. It is as true now as it was in the last century.
  
• Doctrine & Covenants 58:27
  

CHILDREN & WORK

• Elder Larry W. Gibbons of the Seventy said "My mother taught me to work hard. She asked me to get the work done first and then go play. One day a few of us helped my mom move a piano from upstairs to downstairs. It was a big, old piano. It wasn't easy to move. We moved it around corners and finally down the stairs. When we set it down, my mother was glowing with happiness—just because we'd moved a piano! I said "Mom, I think you would rather move a piano than listen to a piano." She nodded. She loved to work.
  
• Lorenzo S. Clark who arrived in Utah in 1853 described his youth "My earliest impression is one of work; the idea and ambition of everyone around me seemed to be to accomplish more and do it better than anyone else. Work was more conspicuous than play, even among the young children who were expected to carry wood and water, run errands, feed the chicken and the pigs, kill crickets and grasshoppers on sight with sticks, gather lucern seed, and help as far as possible with the gardening…though we enjoyed and remembered the willow whistles and spool tops made and put into our hands by older persons, the real spirit of the pioneer group was industry and everyone scorned the idler."
  
• Failure to teach children to work may tempt them to look for easy pathways in life. Such pathways more often than not lead downward. There is dignity in a job well done. Elder L. Tom Perry taught that "Teaching children the joy of honest labor is one of the greatest of all gifts you can bestow upon them."
  
• Alma 36:25
  
• Elder Brad Corbett (Carla's nephew) in Guatemala "During this last week here I have noticed the importance in having love in whatever you do. There are some people here in the Branch that really trusts in their own abilities and talents to get things done, and they measure the success that they have with the numbers and results that they get. But then there are also others that work hard and do their best just because they love God and their fellow man. It is amazing the difference in the spirit that they bring with them. So that is something that I have really been working on, just loving the people here, and making that love seen through my actions."