I met this women outside her modest home where she lives with two older children one of whom is handicapped. She had come from the hiils where she had collected all of these branches and was going to make a broom to sweep her house. The simple dignity that she exhibited and the way she tried to fix her hair when I asked to take her picture was touching.
I was reminded of Luther’s discussions about labor and work and vocation in this life. The work that are meant to do and the vocation we are given is how God works his plan for us. We are to work so that we ahve something to give to others. We are to give to others so that there are no impediments for them to hear and believe the Gospel.
“This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”
