We worked today. Climbed partway up a mountain (part of the Southern Carpathians, I asked) and started building. The job was carpentry, fitting wood together to create the elements of a low ropes course. Many people worked with hammer and nails.
I ended up sanding, with Allegra joining me and several other people cycling in and out.
Working at the camp was stimulating; the scrape of sandpaper on wood under my hands was alternately meditative and tedious (Alex, a Romanian camp leader, showed us how to wrap the paper around pinecones to get a better grip). The woods were quiet, hardly any bugs, tall pine trees blocking out the sky and pillows of lush green moss.
Our English mixed with the Romanian of the leaders and the Danish of the student group working alongside ours. There is something unique about working with one's hands. The writer of Ecclesiastes says that "everyone should eat, drink, and pleasure in all his toil--this is God's gift to man" (Ecclesiastes 3:13, ESV). Philosopher Simone Weil put a heavy emphasis on the importance of physical work, tying it to cultural roots. I don't do work like this very often, but when I do I can see that working on something gives you a sort of pride, the good kind. Pride that is a rejoicing in what you have made with your hands. I have often thought that learning is a sort of worship, and I am beginning to think that physical work is as well. When you contribute to making something, you feel a joy in it, you feel a gratefulness for your body and its strength, and you also feel a connection to the place or the object you have improved. This is putting down roots. This is having a sense of cultural belonging. This is really feeling ourself and your surroundings and your God. Add other people to the mix, and working hard together can build some of the strongest bonds. It can also fray points of tension between people. I think we felt some of both today.
Tomorrow may be worse and it may be better. But by the end of the week we will really know each other through having worked with each other for hours in the day and days on end. We will know ourselves better, given time to be in another place, with another culture, working with sometimes only our thoughts to distract us. And we will know our God better, having seen what he does through us and through the people around us to bring his life to the place we are in. So thank God for hard work. Katie Steininger
I ended up sanding, with Allegra joining me and several other people cycling in and out.
They say hard work pays off. I believe that to be true. They also say the Lord does not give us more than we can handle which often times we all question how and why.
ReplyDeleteWhen your time is done in Romania each and everyone of you will leave the "hard work" you have done for many to benefit from.
The Lord picked you all to serve him with perhaps alterior motives. Finding your inner selves,drawing you closer to him, finding clarity and so on.
The lord works in funny ways.
I pray the frayed tensions resolve themselves and all can move forward to another productive healthy day in the name of God.
Everything looks great to me here back home. Don't forget to smile and be proud of what you are doing.
Bravo, Katie!...for keeping the cheering squad back home happy and up-to-date with another great post of how you all are carrying on God's hard work there and pocketing some good building tips for future activities. Love the combination of colorful, descriptive photos with interesting and informative text. A wonderful piece of photo journalism! May the bonding of a great team strengthen and the frustrations and tensions weaken as your bodies overcome all the effects of jet lag...and smooth adjustments to a new and different environment take the lead. May God in his love and peace and the prayers of all those who are praying faithfully for you back home strengthen you in this work he has called you to do at this time. Love in Christ, Lillian
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