Work Ethic

Day one hundred thirty-four

I am off to Bing Canyon at 4am this morning to finalize some things for the youth conference trek.  I am usually an early riser, but 4 am is ridiculous! Needless to say I will not have the time to do my normal post, but I want to keep up my everyday record, so I thought I would share the short version of my thoughts on Exodus 24.  As for my prayer,  I'm not sure what my prayer will be, but I'm pretty sure it will include words like drive safely, stay awake, need energy, no harm, have the Spirit, and have fun! 

Exodus 24

As I read Exodus 24 I noticed that Moses has been going up and down the mount several times now.  He is 80+ years old and the Lord has him climbing a mountain! I hope when I am 80 that I will be able to climb mountains like Moses! But why would the Lord do that?  What lesson is there to learn from this?

As I was researching I came across a short paragraph which seemed to answer my question:

"You might wish to think of this work and effort on his [Moses'] part as being symbolic of the work ethic required on our part to qualify for revelation and blessings in our lives." (The Old Testament Made Easier)

That is really quite brilliant, I wish I would have thought of it! The Lord is trying to prepare His people and so He gives them a living example, Moses, to learn from.  It takes work to spiritually prepare yourself, it is a lifetime endeavor, and for many, the work and time seems too much for them and they give up.  The Lord, in His infinite wisdom, knows that we need to see examples of the characteristics of the righteous so that we might know they are possible to attain and give us hope.

With each trip he makes up the mountain Moses shows us what a good work ethic looks like: obedience, perseverance, patience, dedication and love.  All great qualities in a leader and in a follower of Christ. 

This message couldn't have come at a better time in my life.  As I am spending hours and hours of my time preparing to teach seminary, organize seminary graduation, and finalize trek stuff I look at what Moses was asked to do and my load doesn't seem so bad.  Each task the Lord gives me is to help me improve my work ethic as a leader and a follower.  As I sit in a car for 10 hours and hike around Bing Canyon it seems like the perfect opportunity to work on my skills, even if it is at 4am.  At least the Lord isn't asking me to do it when I'm 80!