After writing out my thoughts last week on Labor Day, I was drawn to think deeper into the words, work versus labor. It seems work and labor overlap in meaning and understanding. I feel it important to address something I used to hear I know now presents great mental, if not spiritual, fallacy.
“If I just won the lotto, I would never have to work.”
Does not money provide greater access to what more we could do or become?
“Labor not to be rich”, thus, comes connectively to mind. Interestingly, I have arrived to see this message as a double-edged sword throughout time. Interpretations of this command have led divisions in choice of action or no action for my eyes to witness. Take note, the love of money is the root of all evil, not money itself. Rich or poor, does not “labor not to be rich” speak to each of us? Reminding us all that to labor is merely part of the process to exhibit talent, but not bury it once given?
How is “labor” different from “work”? Yes. To denote, labor also means work. And yet, why is the word “labor” chosen instead of work in the process of making money? Here is how I reflect on this question.
I have carried five embryos in my belly and each of those five grew separately in me until that moment where those (relentless, maddening, cruel, inexplicably painful!) contractions arrived at all angles, causing me to go into labor. I pushed, and I pushed, and I pushed until I heard that beautiful cry for that first time, each child born, restrengthening me to the fullest, making me feel the most joyous on earth. Each time, there I was with my husband at my side, both of us in awe of this amazing miracle before us, finally in our arms, moving so gently, blabbing oh, so sweetly for us to hear. We giggle almost to an astonished silence, completely mesmerized by the sight of what once was growing inside of me having been birthed for us to call our very own.
Labor not to be rich, I most certainly followed through when giving birth. There was no pot of gold at the end of my last push and most certainly, the more children I had, was I ever thinking that I would never have to work ever again. In return, to the day I depart, after all the work my husband and I have put into raising each of our children, we continue to gain wondrous joy and the priceless pathway to fully understand undying love for a child.
Those moments of giving it all with my heart, mind, body, and spirit to bring a child out into this world was definitely labor without comparison. However, not one regret for the pain I endured each time. Never once to think of richness and glory, just absolute and complete utter sacrifice to use all of me to deliver each of my children into this world.
Now work, on the other hand, started the minute of the first cry. While filled with wonderment, a child’s cry is like a ringing bell in a mother’s ear that awakens every nerve in the body to act until the child stops. And as years progress, a child learns words and actions to add to the sound of actual crying to exhibit need for love and attention. (Alex, I’ll take actual crying for $1, please.) A mother works for the rest of her life to bring forth children ready to take on this world, one given day at a time. I have gone through giving labor on Day 1. The rest of the remaining days are my desire to put work into raising each one until like an eagle, I must push each out of the nest to fly.
Labor not to be rich, indeed. However, the amazing part of continuing the work with complete duty to use the talents you have been given is beyond measure of silver and gold. Each child before you is your priceless treasure. What each become is the sown level of belief that they are a masterpiece in progress.
To go further in separating labor from work, I’m going to bring up Elon Musk again for the second week as if to sound like I stalk him. For the record, I don’t, but coincidentally, it is that one moment when the spirit has taken time to entertain itself, giving seed of thought to the flesh, where you realize to have come across a message several months back exactly meant for the present of time.
In this short snippet, Elon Musk had mentioned a critical time where he had to decide which company to let go, analogizing to such (those of you who have read enough of my writing and with just even this one, know analogizing is how my brain understands) as children to choose between. I think of the great example of work versus labor here.
Work, aside from labor, is not necessarily intensive, although any push forward goes without saying is met with a push back (Newton’s third law). Rather, work is intentional. Whether by force or by choice, you labor to birth or produce something into existence. The laborers may do this over and over again. Making brick doesn’t make one a home until you put in work to create walls, one layer at a time. You must desire to work or that brick will just become a whole lot of, well, bricks. I need to go back to Newton’s laws again to conclude with this one.
Newton’s first law essentially suggests something doesn’t move unless given force. I consider this the going into the “labor” phase of birthing. As my doctor kindly responded (I had the same doctor for four out of our five children) when I asked during my very first time giving birth, “Can I just take a quick nap to rest before I push again?” “No. You have to keep pushing.” Without knowing, my doctor was essentially moving me to Newton’s second law, the infamous F = ma.
The speed at which my child would be birthed strictly depended on the force I would put in. This, I call the labor intensive part. You forget all the rules, training, and suggestions all around you in the delivery room to breathe during this time. Newton’s second law is in full effect at this point and telling a woman to breathe during this force equaling mass times acceleration is like telling someone to push on the brakes of a car rolling down a hill. You hear what they are all saying, but for goodness sake! My brain FORGOT how! Somehow, you manage, and, Voila! (natural birth is hardly if NOT AT ALL natural!) This is similar to those who don’t or hardly sleep or eat until the goal is met. Perhaps this may well be why Newton’s second law is the one we relate to most. We understand force equals how fast an object accelerates. A boulder is just a big, but innocuous rock until seen rolling down a hill. Then, it’s Ludacris time playing loudly in the air, “Move! Get out the way!”
Moving onto Newton’s third law is the moment of choice to work. The baby is born. What to do now… times 365 days a year, times 18 plus infinity years. In the words of Rihanna, (you might as well dance while listening, too- I do!), “Work, work, work, work, work”.
So, to the mindset of, “If I just won the lotto I’d never have to work”, I remember being confused and eerily feeling disappointment with this statement upon hearing it during my younger years. I know now that I understood Sir Isaac Newton’s laws before ever introduced to me and perhaps, to say, beyond just scientific explanation. Whether it be fear, discouragement, or lacking faith and self-belief like perhaps David’s brothers when having the opportunity to take down Goliath, some of us never attempt to take on Newton’s third law. We labor, but stop when we are then, given the opportunity to work.
Some of us are stuck on the first law, seeing the potential to create movement, but never making the move. Some move onto the second law, but when movement occurs, some tire when they should accelerate. Hence, the mass just feels utterly too heavy. No force achieved; back to Newton’s first law. Sadly, some nap (for a lifetime) and never birth what could have been. Some do birth what potentially can get to the next level, but stop. Here is where the line between labor versus work is drawn. Only the few dare to keep pushing against all odds, understanding and accepting that with every push, there is and will always be opposite force pushing back against it.
That uncle lying on the couch waiting for someone to push him up and out of the house with force to get moving is justified under Newton’s first law waiting for someone or something to activate second law into effect. Second law will only be at greatest, however, if it dare push through all oppositions that waits under the third law.
Go for that Third Law. Anticipate a push back for every push you give. Although there is reaping harvest of what we sow, labor not to be rich. Labor to birth an opportunity to then, keep going. Gold can be found in a fish. But the gold in the fish was given as a means to be able to keep doing work. Surely, gold will be found amongst the paths you take forward. Team Elon Musk, Team Rihanna, or best of all, Team You.
Turn the music on and move against those obstacles. “Work, work, work, work, work.”
If you may not be aware already, look at where work has put Elon Musk or Rihanna. Dare they stop working? The labor might have been the big push, but stop working and nothing moves. Just a whole lot of potential of what never was.
BE what IS.
