My dad grew up on a sheep farm. And his dad grew up farming too. Same with his dad, all the way back to when dads were a thing.
One of my grand/great grands worked on a beet farm. I read a story once about the beet farmers by Jay Jensen. It was called “Hoe to the end of the row” (apparently there’s a poem with that same title).
The principle the author shared was of planting to the end of the row. Some people got lazy and gave up 80% of the way through. But the hard workers went to the end. They took pride in it. And when the harvest came the boss knew who was coming back next summer: those with finished rows.
I’m grateful for hard work. My grandpa told my dad to work with his mind, not his back.
So my dad got a desk job. And so did I.
Perhaps if my grandpa had seen today maybe he would instead say “get off those screens and go plant a beet”. But hard work is hard regardless of it being mental or physical. “Hard work” is the reward itself.
In another quote my father shared with me: “the gift of a good life is having lived it”. Same applies to hard work. The reward of hard work is having done it.
Most of what we do on a daily basis goes unnoticed. The rewards are for ourselves. This is a joy of life.
_________________________
Bryan lives somewhere at the intersection of faith, fatherhood, and futurism and writes about tech, books, Christianity, gratitude, and whatever’s on his mind. If you liked reading, perhaps you’ll also like subscribing: