It’s Fall, which means lots and lots and lots of leaves. In our neck of the woods we don’t bag them we blow them back into the forest. Yesterday my husband and I spent hours clearing leaves. It was as if in the last week every tree on our property decided to dump all their leaves at the same time. We didn’t get them all moved, but the majority are ready for winter.
As I was spending hours blowing leaves I thought about the advantages of hard work. It may sound strange but I enjoy doing manual labor. I like working outside and taking care of what we have been blessed to own. I enjoy the sweat and satisfaction of a hard job well done. I feel better about myself when I do hard work and see it through to the end. There is something deeply satisfying when you survey a completed job and see the beautiful fruits of your labor. After the sweat and muscle aches subside there is a sense of ‘I can do anything’ down deep. It is a reminder that nothing worthwhile is ever done with ease. Hard work yields rewards.
On top of all this, we had a great deal of frustration. The wind kept shifting different directions. So blowing one way changed instantly into all the leaves blowing back into your face. So you changed direction to move them another way to work with the wind. And there were so many leaves that at times they were as high as my waist. We couldn’t move them with ease, we had to break things into smaller piles and move the small piles in order to move the big pile. My husband moved all the leaves on the lawn and I moved the leaves around the houses. We had to be strategic about who did what, which direction we blew, and how we handled the big stuff.
As I was moving my last pile I thought about how moving leaves was a great metaphor for life. You have to go with the flow, you have to break the big stuff into smaller bites, and you have to work together. No one can do it all alone. You also have to realize that as soon as you get the job done, more work will be right around the corner. One big wind storm and all your work may need to be done again. Just like life and living a full life, the one you want to live not just the one you endure. It takes effort and thought and strategic decisions, you can’t just blow right through it.
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