Keep Your Head Down

 One of the jobs I did not look forward to as a child was raking leaves. I grew up in east Texas with massive trees. The house I grew up in had lots of pine trees in the yard. Those pine needles fell every fall requiring hours on end raking and hauling pine straw to the burn pile. We had an average sized front yard, but a much larger back yard. It usually was an all day and sometimes a couple of days job. 

I learned pretty early on to keep my head down, and keep working instead of looking up at all the time to see how much more work I had left to do. Just keeping my head down, and focusing on the task at hand seemed to make the job go by a little faster. Those were long days with blistered hands. My back and arms ached from dragging those little piles of pine straw. I made piles all over the yard and then had to haul those piles to burn. Many times I thought the pine straw kept falling from the trees faster than I could rake it. Most years we had to rake the yard more than once because the pine needles became too thick. Heaven forbid it rained soaking the leaves. That made the job much more difficult. 

That lesson has served me well in life to keep my head down. Whether working on a research paper in college, mowing a yard, moving furniture for a furniture business, breaking up concrete with a jackhammer, splitting firewood, preparing sermons, writing books, and enduring long work days. Just keeping my head down helped me get through those assignments. 

I did not always keep my head down. I looked up to see the overwhelming amount of work I still had left to do. Like hauling hay. Instead of focusing on the bale in front of me, I looked up to see the thousands of other bales still in the field making me lose heart. The same thing happened on my 100 mile bike ride. Many times I looked up losing heart at the next hill or the sign telling me how many more miles I had to pedal. When I just kept my head down pushing the pedals, it made each mile more bearable.

I don't know what your station in life is. I am sure you have your own challenges. It is tempting to look up and compare ourselves to others. This will only get us into trouble. Comparing ourselves will either lead to pride because our accomplishments are better than others. It could also lead to depression because our progress is not as good as others. Neither mindset is healthy. It is much better to keep your head down and faithfully execute the assignment God gives you. 

Wherever God planted you, keep your head down and just do the work He has given you to do. Focus on the task at hand. Do it to the best of your ability. It may not be a glamorous assignment. You may not get applauded by others for the work. Like the time I did some disaster relief work in south Texas after Hurricane Harvey. Their were not accolades. Just hours of sweaty hard physical labor. That labor was done for the Lord just as much as for the victims. Maybe you do not get rewarded or recognized for that work. God sees. Keep your head down and do your work as unto God and not people. [Col 3:17] Do your work with all your heart for the Lord. [Col 3:23] He sees. He will reward His children for their labors. 

I practiced what I preached. I kept my head down and now have come to the end of this post. I just typed the next word, the next sentence, and then the next paragraph. Perhaps God will use this to help someone to keep their head down and finish their work trusting God for the reward and the results.