hard work or working hard

I thought I would show you an example of my translation notes, ie. my questions and comments to discuss with the team. I work from a draft in Monkolé and compare with the Hebrew, using a commentary and translators' tools. I have translated them from French/Monkolé into English where necessary.

Leviticus:

7:1 "This shall be a very holy thing" - this is the same expression as in 6:18 and 6:22 so needs to be revised either here or there

7:2 "kaakooò" - should this just have 2 "o"s ?

7:3 "the fat that covers the inner parts" - same expression as in 3:3 so probably needs to be revised either here or there

7:4 the whole verse is the same as 3:4 so probably needs to be revised either here or there

7:5 "before the LORD" - should be "to the LORD"

7:6 "Among the priests the males may eat..." - does this give the impression that there are female priests? if so we need to change it

Just an example of my work … not something that many people would find it interesting to read through for very long!

So … hard work or working hard? A friend of mine wrote a blog post on this subject last year (sorry no link, as my slow connection won't allow me to go looking for it). It was the title that impressed me. The difference he made between "hard work" and "working hard" was that it is fairly easy – especially as a pastor, or indeed a missionary – to have a full schedule and to give the impression that you are working hard. But that full schedule can become an excuse for not doing the hard (ie. difficult) work that God is actually calling you to.

What my friend identified as hard work were things like mending or working on relationships, or really examining your own habits and attitudes and rooting out those which don't please God. If you are working in a dysfunctional team, it might mean facing up to this and being ready to sit down with the team and talk things out. These are acts which traditionally would be seen as part of spiritual discipline or fighting against the flesh. We are all capable of filling up our time with activities that sound worthwhile to other people, but God knows which really necessary tasks we are avoiding. He can also help us to find the courage to get stuck into them!

What I find hardest in my own work is the daily grind. There are parts of my translation work which I love and find very motivating, particularly when we're working together as a team. But then there are the mornings in the office where not all the team is there, and so I have to push myself to spend hours working on my own, reading (sometimes rather dry) verses in Hebrew, looking at different translations/interpretations and comparing it with the way it's been drafted in Monkolé. Sometimes it is downright boring. I don't like to say that when I'm working with God's word, but I'm in Leviticus at the moment, and it is passage after passage of detailed prescriptions for different sacrifices … and I have to look into all the details, as you saw above! It is partly a personality thing – I'm good at managing several different things at once, and not so good with monotony.

But even in monotony I can be serving God. While an upfront Scripture-expounding, worship-leading, congregation-exhorting ministry might seem more rewarding (though of course there is a lot of background work to public ministry), God is just as interested in the way we continue to serve Him in the nitty-gritty boringness of day-to-day life. Whether I'm checking the exact meaning of the "guilt offering" or changing a baby's nappy, it's good to remember that if that's what God has got me doing, I can do it to His glory. And while that might sound like a cliché, it's also my reality! So … what is the hard work God might be asking you to do for Him?*

*This is not, of course, a question I'm expecting answers to in my comments section ;-)