11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, 12 so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need. 1 Thessalonians 4:11–12
I have a saying that I attribute simply to observing the obvious. Some are prone to say in front of an arduous project, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” I add the qualifier, “but it was built.” When you observe someone quietly press and plod towards a goal, focused and not frantic or fussy, it’s an inspiration.
Paul was by trade a tent maker. This process in his time certainly did not utilize mechanical means to sew the tents, but was one stitch at a time. While there might have been some social aspects to the trade, all work requires keeping one’s nose to the grindstone for progress to be made. No row gets plowed without hands on the plow and significant effort applied in the hot sun.
Success is never achieved without effort. This is the right way to conduct your life, and it’s the way that you put food on the table. This work ethic is not reserved for a particular religious group, but for the wise.
Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise. Proverbs 6:6
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