{"id":1467,"date":"2021-04-28T16:16:37","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T20:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redchairblogs.wpengine.com\/holymoly\/?p=1467"},"modified":"2021-04-28T16:16:37","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T20:16:37","slug":"admire-the-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/2021\/04\/28\/admire-the-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Admire the Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

While mowing the lawn one afternoon, my wife opened the window and yelled out to me, \u201cYou look miserable.\u201d I probably was. I am not a fan of yard work. I would rather be reading a book. Our yard is long, hilly, uneven, and mostly weeds. Sure, our yard is green, but it\u2019s almost entirely green weeds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting back to mowing the lawn, I started to ponder her comments because such a chore is a great opportunity to let your mind wander. Her comments made me question whether other people also thought I looked miserable as they drove by me, or if I really needed to be so miserable for an hour each week. Perhaps, instead of letting miserable feelings show up on my face, I could start to admire yard work. There is a sense of satisfaction that bubbles up in me when I finally finish. Perhaps, I thought I could channel that satisfaction more regularly.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so, over time, I have tried my best to approach yard work not as a chore, but an experience in which I can take pride. I\u2019ve made it a point to take it all in when I\u2019m finally finished. I look out over our yard, admiring and breathing in the freshly cut weeds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve gone from hating it to enjoying the hard work so that I can admire the finished product. And, just the other day, a neighbor drove by, rolled down her window, and said our yard looks great. I told her that it is mostly weeds, but I appreciated her comment. To be honest, I\u2019ll be living on that compliment for the rest of my life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As our semester draws to a close, first, I hope you\u2019re not miserable. But more than that, I hope you are able to take a moment to look back and admire all the good work you have done this spring. I hope you are able to pause and look around at what you have completed. You have done good, faithful, sacred, and beautiful work. You have contributed to a successful semester during a global pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I know that during this time in the semester, many of us put our heads down to push through to the end. We end in a whirlwind of exhaustion. However, I want to encourage you to take a break, look around you, take a few deep breaths, and admire the work. I think you will be glad you did. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While mowing the lawn one afternoon, my wife opened the window and yelled out to me, \u201cYou look miserable.\u201d I probably was. I am not a fan of yard work. I would rather be reading a book. Our yard is …<\/p>\n

Admire the Work<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nathan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1QIf6-nF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}