From the Eyes of a Hard Workin’ Man
Brooks and Dunn sum it up about how men today work in their song – Hard Workin’ Man. While the man they describe wears a hard hat and is proficient at many labor intense tasks, he’s also use to just getting by financially…in fact, he’s pretty good at it. I guess you could call him a resourceful kind of guy.
Many men work diligently and faithfully day in and day out to make a living for themselves and others. You know how valuable someone is who lives and works that way. It’s what makes up the core of our workforce today.
It is the same case with a number of men who are out in the wilderness minding various herds such as cattle or sheep. While there are fewer of them today than there have been in the past, they still handle an important part of the food base for many of us.
Consider that man who works diligently to manage those animals.
I would suspect that to be a lonely kind of job…dealing with animals all day that are likely soon to be on someone’s dinner table. Not much you can say about that, now is there?
While most of them don’t work completely alone, they don’t have much time for talking on the job…that is unless they talk to the animals.
I suspect that most days are uneventful…just doing the same thing day in and day out. For some that is a satisfying task and they take great pride in that work. I, for one, am sure appreciative they are accustomed to that and can do it on a daily basis.
There were some – we will call them shepherds here – that had a pretty amazing story about one of the nights they were working. There seemed to be more night time activity than usual…even people coming through their territory well after dark. That was definitely something they were not use to and it made them a bit uncomfortable.
These folks were curious about what was going on and some of them even decided to follow the other travelers a short distance when they saw a light in the sky that actually seemed to welcome them there. They were not usually welcomed many places due to their position in life.
This was different for some reason and they were drawn to it.
When they got to the spot they were in awe at what they saw. They sat quietly and took in the scene. The light from the sky, much brighter now, lit the space in a remarkable way. There were other visitors there and they were mindful to be respectful and quiet. Little was said…but much was learned by observing the scene.
Yes, even a hard working, hard living man can have a soft spot in his heart when he sees something like this.
The word spread fast among their coworkers and before they knew it, they were making a positive impact on many others because they ventured out that night to participate in something a little different.
My wish for you today is that you spend your time working hard and spreading good wherever you can. It’s the hard working and simple living people in this world who often can make a difference in our lives if we stop to take the time to watch and listen.
~ Joellen