Work and Longing.

I've been thinking recently about that weird cycle we all find ourselves in where we work really hard to reach some "place" where we hope to rest and yet we end up still longing, still dissatisfied, still rearranging the world. It never seems to end and despair is waiting to eat us just around the corner. Sometimes, we believe we've finally made it but the reflecting on our work only begs for more so we roll our sleeves up and dig in. Again.

One of my heroes, Tim Keller, was saying in a MP3 I was listening to this morning that work is a part of that longing for perfection that we all have and can't seem to create. It is frustrating. That's the point of Genesis 3. My work is good (professional and otherwise) and is part of the way the world can be arranged to promote human flourishing. So, basically, I should expect most of my work to be good and frustrating. Great. At least I'm normal.

But, isn't this part of the redemptive story? Suffering does bring glory... but not the Tower of Babel kind where the name I'm promoting is mine. True glory (the kind that is otherly) comes through self sacrificing sort of suffering and this usually means working through thorns and thistles.

The era of redemptive history I live in is the scene of what the earth looks like when all hell breaks loose. The reordering, rearranging of the earth through good work is a privilege given to all of us and it will cost much and provide only moments of satisfaction. But the point is that the work will be finished. The true glory minded artist will see his work completed to ultimate satisfaction. The true glory minded attorney will find real justice. The true glory minded parent will see their child as beyond what they knew they would become. The true glory minded teacher will discover their students finally seeing. What a day that will be.

For now, the reminder of what God will finish is enough to get me started. Again.