Labor Lost by Charlotte Dugan

Whenever I’m at my manual grain mill, if one thing stands out it’s the labor. I’ve gained strength since acquiring it, and am now able to grind straight through for 30-45 minutes without stopping. That’s 30-45 minutes of going in a circle. I’ve no idea how many circles that is–maybe some day I’ll count them.

The full circuit of a human life is often referred to in the form of a circle: The Circle of Life. What is meant is the completion, from birth, to death. Often within that understanding is the concept that when you die, someone takes your place, perhaps in an effort to make us feel as if all is not lost, as if that Good Cause to which we dedicated our lives will be continued and carried on to its completion by another. And yet Ecclesiastes gives us a glimpse into a different perspective:

Ecclesiastes 2:17-19
(17) So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
(18) I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.
(19) And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.

To what end, then, do we labor? All of us as human beings wake up each day to a day full of tasks over which we pour out our life. From the time you are born, you are pressured to decide how to “make a living.” Often we are pushed to think of what career we will choose to devote our precious time to by the amount of money it will bring us and that that money is the measure of our mark on this life. Money and physical gain become the quantifier of Success, the goal of the human pursuit. “He who dies with the most toys wins.” It’s true that as we labor, as we invest our energy and resources into this life, we are given things in exchange: some are physical, some are emotional. In the above text, the Preacher discovers that life outside of serving God has no meaning, and Jesus cautioned his followers to be aware of the storehouses of their lives and where their labor was spent.

Matthew 6:19-21
(19) “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
(20) But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
(21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I live in a house that is now 228 years old in the year 2008. It was built in 1780 by manual tools and manual labor. I can still see the effects of some of that original labor though the people who performed it have long been dead: the full, single tree trunks used in the basement as girders for the rest of the house; the shutters, marked with Roman numerals to keep them in order as sets, with their hand-hewn imperfections; the horse hair in the walls that was used for insulation; the four-seater outhouse in the ell. But we don’t cook over an open fire anymore or have to use the outhouse–in subsequent years, people have added to the house, repaired it or updated it for modern use. We enjoy electricity, indoor plumbing and an electric range. It takes generations of faithful workers to keep a house around this long, their labor evident in the structure, the quality of their work sustaining the structure. So it is with our lives and the proverbial “house” of God. Each day when you rise and set about the tasks before you, you are laboring to some end: either to gain the things of this world, the physical comforts that bring some ease or pleasure, or to the end of adding to God’s “house” and to the work of the ministry. In the first, you can gain much, and then leave it here to someone after you. In the latter, the beauty of Matthew 6:19-21 is that you actually can take it with you because it is stored–with God. What true gain has your labor earned if it is spent merely on this life?

(As a parenthetical note, while we’re speaking here of the rewards paid to you, the servant/laborer, we must note that not all the effects of your effort will show up only in your future life. As you labor for God now, spending your personal resources–your time, your money, your home, etc–in the service of the Body of Christ and for the house of God, you leave behind you an immediate outcome. Like the laborers who worked on my home over the years, you leave behind here, on this earth, even with its corruption, a beautiful work, a legacy for those who share this earth with you and those who will come after you.)

Mark 8:36
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Luke 12:13-21
(13) Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
(14) Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”
(15) Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
(16) And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.
(17) He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
(18) Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
(19) And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
(20) But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
(21) “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

God calls this man a fool.

What I am not saying: I am not saying that everyone working in a career or a job that is not directly connected to ministry work is wasting their labor. I am not saying that anyone who has the capacity to make a lot of money or who lives in a beautiful home has wasted their labor. It is not, nor has it ever been about the physical things, but it is and always has been about the posture of our heart, the willingness we have to use the “good crop” that our ground produced for any- and everything that God’s will might have us do.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15
(10) By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.
(11) For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(12) If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,
(13) his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.
(14) If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
(15) If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

The labor you invest in this life will come to account on some future Day. While intangible when compared to the luxuries your labor could gain for your enjoyment on this earth, the labor you store with God will one day become very tangible. The promise of rewards is a very real truth in God’s Word and a wonderful motivator from a loving God. (While this article does not get into the details of this promise, see The Christian’s Hope for further research).

In a production of Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend, there is a dust heap that has brought great physical wealth to its owner. The dust heap was born of the trash of the rich throughout many years, and while at first the owner was considered one of the lowest, he discovered when burning their trash that certain items do not burn–gold, silver and precious stones. He began to sift through the ashes discovering treasure until he became so rich he was able to offer the piles to the poor of the surrounding country, inviting them to come and take their hand at the piles and piles of gray dross. The analogy in Corinthians becomes very clear in the light of this ash heap–what you “dress” yourself with in this life will be tested by fire. We have the wonderful promise for Christians that they themselves will survive the “cremation” and enter into eternal life, but of our labor, only those things that survive that future fire will come through and be yours for future enjoyment. And the things considered costly to God, the things God would have you labor for, will be in direct opposition to the items valued by this world in this life.

1 Corinthians 3:18-20
(18) Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise.
(19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”,
(20) and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

Take it with you!

Colossians 3:23-25
(23) Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
(24) since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
(25) Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

If you find you grapple with greed, with the strong desire to labor for now, fight for your heart: turn off the television and its ads, open the Bible, force yourself to give, pray deeply (prayer does so much to change your heart), see clearly what has been done for you–that this is not all that there is to labor for, the fact that you even have a chance to labor for eternal rewards because eternal life has been offered to you is such a gift! Look not at the standards of “Success” that the world deems of value but God calls “Foolish.” God is faithful to note your labor. Even in what may appear wasted efforts, His accounting is just and right, and His books will be the only ones that stand.

1 Samuel 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Amen!

In some sense there is some truth here..What are your views?

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Beenie Man Apologizes

BY AKIM BRYANT

AUGUST 01 2012 5:00 AM ET

The 1990s introduced the U.S. and Europe to a new style of reggae music known as dancehall. It originated from Jamaica and much like the early days of hip-hop, dancehall was instantly popular, yet very controversial. Homophobic lyrics littered many chart-topping international hits by artists like Buju Banton and Beenie Man, the reigning king of dancehall. In their songs, they boasted about committing violent acts against homosexuals including murder. To this day, Jamaica is still described by many human-rights organizations as the most homophobic place on earth.

However, back in May 2012, Beenie Man took to YouTube posting the first ever apology video by any dancehall artist to date, in which he said, “Let me make this clear…I have nothing against no one. I respect each and every human being regardless of which race or creed, regardless of which religious belief…regardless of which sexual preference you have including gay and lesbian people.”

In an exclusive interview with The Advocate, Beenie Man explains how he arrived at his current view on gay rights, whether he believes Jamaica will ever be accepting of the LGBT community and how he would respond if his son grew up to be gay.

The Advocate: What prompted you to do the YouTube apology video?
Beenie Man: What really motivated me to do something like that is the love of the music and the respect for people. I’m a Jamaican, see. I’m from a place called Waterhouse so you’re dealing with all Jamaicans there. So as a youth growing up, what them say that we have to say cause children do what they learn. When you start to learn how the world run and how the world situated right now, people is people and people do what they want to do. They live their own life. And if you want people to love your music, all you have to do is respect people for who they are. So when I go to Europe now, me have 30 shows – 10 of them canceled. People come out and they protest. In a sense, they can’t come to my show and judge me for what I did 15 years ago because nobody is the same person who they was 15 years ago. The next reason is I have done a song with Janet Jackson and it being taken off the charts, video taken off MTV. Now this song with me and Nicki (Minaj). We textin’ and everything (she says) you need to stop it and make people understand that’s not who you are right now. This is who I am, and this is where I’m going, and this is where my head space is. Want to make people understand, we are dancehall music and we sing music for the people. And if we sing music for one set of people…and the next set of people not listen to the music, it don’t make sense. That mean you’re off way in the world.

You’ve got to be the voice for the people, right?
That is the reason why I did it.

What effect has it had since the video was posted?
Well, I did it for Europe and the United States and Canada, I never did it for Jamaica, but it have a (positive) effect all over the world. The shows that we used to get banned from, we are now booked. You have a place like Barcelona, which they offer government [protection] for gay people so once they ease up you realize what is going on. They wanted me to explain to them why I was singing these songs and why do I expect them to support me. So I think they got the message.

 

So does the negative reaction in your homeland of Jamaica concern you at all?
I live in Jamaica. I can’t be concerned about Jamaica and small-minded and one-track, ya understand? You have intelligent people in my island, people who understand everything. The reaction in the media was a good thing for dancehall music. Everybody who supposed to respond [positively], respond great so you know you not get all good response. A few man say this and a few man say that, but what a few men say is nothing to what the majority say.

Do you believe there will ever be a time when gays and lesbians will be accepted in Jamaica?
Well I don’t know that. That is not my thing. Me cannot tell you that. You would have to talk to the government cause I am not government.

So laws would have to be passed?
You have place in the Caribbean where gay and lesbian is legal like Barbados and a few more places. But Jamaica is a place where it’s just bent one way because gay in Jamaica is not like it is in America. It’s mostly big men with money going down in the ghetto and turning the local youths so you call that statutory (rape) or child molestation. They convince the youth that they are this way…and me know enough youth this way. That’s why when it comes to gay murder in Jamaica, it’s so vicious. With local youth, they can’t go back to their life that they used to know. And then (the rich men) use them and go find the next youth to use. So people need to understand that in Jamaica it’s a different lifestyle. It’s not like two men come together and say I like (to date men). That’s not the way it is in Jamaica. So right now until that finished and the youth stop getting kidnapped and found raped and thrown in a bush…until that stops and gays and lesbians speak out against child rapists and all of these things, then the government will see where they’re coming from. You can’t beat up on the government when you don’t understand what the government is fighting for. They’re not fighting against (gays). In the government in Jamaica right now, me sure you can find a few gay people. But the whole Caribbean needs support because the (rapes) have to stop.

You appeared on The RuPaul Show back in 1996. Did you receive backlash for making that appearance?
Of course, I live in Jamaica. But from then I don’t care, music is music. Promotion is promotion. TV is TV. I sing “Dancehall Queen.” RuPaul is a drag queen. Him love the song. Him invite me and Chevelle Franklin to do the show. What am I gonna say? No? Are you crazy?

One of the biggest trepidations straight people tend to have about supporting gay rights is that the public will then think he or she must also be gay.
Yeah, this is already going on because of the video I did. But, ya see, gay lifestyle is not what I am because I’m a straight man. But it’s not for me to condemn it cause every man have a right to decide their destiny. And it’s not for you to (then) condemn me. Some straight people make the same mistake some gay people make. Jamaican people are afraid of what they don’t know like every (other) people in the world.

 

Did it make a difference for you when President Obama spoke out in support of gay marriage?
It don’t make no difference to me because still the world go on. It definitely helped, but if the world don’t agree, what is anyone going to do? Turn a blind eye? You have to do these things or get left behind.

Now, there’s still a lot of speculation on the internet about whether you actually signed the Reggae Compassionate Act of 2007 renouncing homophobia.
Yeah, me sign it. Me sign it like seven years ago and we still getting backlash regardless of what we did. Gay people still come out and demonstrate. They printed me signature in newspaper in Jamaica. I was the first one to sign it.

Yes, it was you along with Sizzla and Capleton. Now, would you ever consider performing for an LGBT event or festival?
Ya know, I just can’t answer that. When I get there, I get there, seriously.

If the opportunity presents itself, you’ll deal with it, but until then, no comment?
No comment.

Typically when it comes to gay rights, it’s tough for heterosexual people to understand the issue unless they know someone personally who is gay. Is that what also helped you change your view?
I know a few gay people and I work with them. They keep them life to them and we work together. It’s all about work, not sitting around talking about gay issues. I know what it is. A man love a man, that’s his feelings, his heart, his passion, ya understand? Let’s say (hypothetically) I have a cousin who’s gay. I’m not gonna kill him. I’m not gonna hate him. I have to support him with a choice that he make. He have to have somebody to support him cause if the whole family turn they back against him, he end up committing suicide cause he might think he made the wrong choice. Your choice is your choice. Your decision is your decision. It’s not mine. It’s not for me to tell him that you’re wrong. But I cannot say that I have a brother or a cousin or somebody close to me [who’s gay]. I am from Waterhouse…Kingston, Jamaica. That is a serious question that you ask me, ya know? But I have been working with a lot of these people. It’s not my business. I look past it.

So how would you personally feel if your only child, your son, turned out to be gay?
Well I can’t feel no ways. He’s my son. I love him already. It’s not gonna make me hate him. All left to do is to support him and guide him through.

And of course, we can’t forget about the music. You have a new album coming soon, right? What can people expect from the new Beenie Man?
Yes, the single is out called “Summer is Here.” I have a new album coming out. It’s called King in Control. This is a dancehall reggae album. All of the hip-hop artists we’re putting on this album will be on a reggae beat…Will Smith and LL Cool J cause we’re all veterans in it so we work with the big people.

 http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/music/2012/08/01/exclusive-interview-beenie-man-apologizes

Dear Met,

I have an issue that I need some advice on however, I don’t have much friends or any trusted people that I can talk to. I need opinions from people on the outside looking in that don’t know me personally or the other party involved.

For the past 2 years I have been dating a married man. Initially, he did not tell me he was married when we met, in fact, I had to ask him 4 days after meeting. He told the truth that he was married and I decided to continue to see him. I never expected us to last 2 years. We fell in love with each other over those 2 years- we were not just “friends with benefits” or “f*ck buddies”… we were a legit couple (besides the fact he had a wife he lived with). I met his family who lives in another country (not even his wife has met them) so foolishly, I thought him and I would have a fairy tale ending.

Anyway, recently his wife found out about us and it was pure drama however he said he would not leave me and he does not want to leave me. I decided that we should just be friends… but, it was more like a “friends with benefits” relationship because he continues to sleep by me and to sleep with me.

Two weeks after I decided for us to be “friends”, I ended the relationship completely and I can tell I really hurt him. I love him but I have to love myself and I was not happy with being his “other woman” and I was not happy with being his “friend”. When we were discussing I wanted us to have a future together and I may even be pregnant (however, he does not know this). It hurts too much to be without him and it hurts too much to be with him but I would rather be single and lonely than with him and lonely (if that makes sense).

Basically, I just want opinions as to whether i did the right thing or not by ending this relationship. A part of me feels emancipated but a part of me just cannot see me without him, my heart literally hurts because I miss him already and he was in fact my first true love.

A you seh tek di people dem husband and nuh response/matey mek wife life a living hell..Shavar fi go tun muslim and married yuh now dont it?