By the Sweat of Your Brow
Wednesday, January 3, 2024
“The only legitimate happiness is honest hard work and the surmounting of obstacles.” – Leo Tolstoy
Yesterday, God led me to use a quote by Wilbur Wright that was included in David McCullough’s biography of the aviation pioneers to illustrate a spiritual principle. Today, I think He would have me share another quote from McCullough’s book that hung on the wall of Wilbur Wright’s office in Dayton OH.
This one, of course, is from Leo Tolstoy, the great Russian novelist who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five years in a row (1902-1906) and the Nobel Peace Prize three times (1901, 1902, and 1909). Among Tolstoy’s greatest works were War and Peace, published in 1869, and Anna Karina, published in 1878.
As for Tolstoy’s quote above, I both agree and disagree with his sentiments. It is very true that a job done well results in a sense of satisfaction. After all, Solomon – the wisest man other than Jesus to walk the earth – said as much in Ecclesiastes 5:18.
“Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.”
That being said, Solomon grew increasingly disenchanted late in life because all of his worldly pursuits – and his heathen wives – left him feeling empty.
As a husband, father, and grandfather, I can personally attest that being surrounded by my loving family makes me legitimately happy. Deanna and I are extremely fortunate in that regard, because all six of our children (in-laws included) and all six of our grandkids live within 10 miles of us.
Other things that give me joy in life are good friends, good conversation, a good meal, a good night’s sleep, and a good day on the golf course. For a “hacker” like me, a round of golf is indeed hard work and involves surmounting a lot of obstacles like sand traps and water hazards, but I doubt that is what Tolstoy had in mind.
Instead, the literary giant was probably referring to the same thing Wilbur and Orville Wright discovered during their long quest to achieve human flight. Simply put, great achievements leave a person satisfied… and exhausted. I guess that’s why Thomas Edison credited his success as an inventor to 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
“Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening.” Psalm 104:23 (NKJV)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
