I've always thought of Labor Day as the official end of summer and a great reason to have friends over for a cookout. But this year, in addition to all that, as I was trying to explain to Harrison and Zoe the purpose of the holiday (and cutting out leaves for a garland), I was reminded of how blessed we are to live in a land where unions did their best work decades ago, ridding us of child labor and sweatshop working environments.
Not wanting to leave it at that, I read from Dickens' A Christmas Carol (the part of Christmas Present where the ghost lifts his robes to reveal the children want and ignorance). Then we read Matthew 11:28 (I was so glad to have stumbled upon it during my Daily Light reading last week). I had never seen it in the NKJV, till now.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Unions are a great good when they're focused on eradicating injustice (as opposed to, say, trying to coerce its members to elect this or that politician), but Christ is our greatest good—the only source of true rest.
In other news, Steve and I are on the Family Life Today broadcast again; this time talking about the Start Your Family Book (seems natural to talk babies following labor day). Yesterday we focused on the fears and anxieties that keep many couples (we were no exception) from plunging into parenthood. Today, we talk about the many ways children are a blessing.