Hard Work: Is it Worth the Effort? 18 January 2014

So I've worked very very hard in my life.  Then I completely relax sometimes.  I've seen myself work so hard and for nothing.  It makes me think there's no point to working hard and all is in vain, so I end up becoming lazy and giving up.  But I know I should work hard. I've seen people work very hard and it amounted to nothing.  Like when you work night and day to build a business and then you have to do hours upon hours of paperwork because the government makes you, but doesn't pay you to do it, and then the business fails anyway.  Or someone else comes along and undermines you. Ultimately, it is good and noble to work hard, and I think you should.  Or I should.  I just feel so deflated sometimes I don't feel like it's worth it.  Then there's a price to pay for working hard in addition to the working hard.  Being there for your children, for example.  Are you going to pay someone else to raise your children and that is why you are working hard?  I have to get ready for work right now and I will continue contemplating this when I have a moment.

24 January 2014
Ok, so now I have a moment.  I just shoveled the driveway until 1:00 a.m. this morning.  I had to use an ice scraper which hurt my hands and pounded and pounded at the ice which is piled up from the snow plows.  After I got enough ice chunks I could shovel it up and throw it off the sidewalks. Then I was almost late for work and I worked all day, then came home and made dinner.  Then I picked up my older daughter.  After reading the scriptures and praying my son left for his night job.  He goes to class at college all day. I feel like I should stay home and clean our house and watch my seven-year-old or at least just work during the day when my daughter's in school. Anyway, I'm getting off-topic now.

Sometimes the hoped-for reward from working very hard and sacrificing appears to be a non-existent fantasy.  Once in a while the reward comes through, or A reward comes through, maybe not the one we were hoping for, but some kind of reward.

Look at getting a degree for example.  Why bother?  You can work your kiester off, get your degree, get in debt or live in abject poverty and there's no guarantee you'll get any kind of employment whatsoever. Starting off at the bottom of some companies and working your way up right out of high school may give you a better chance in life of success than getting in debt and living in poverty while going to a four-year college. Where does it get you? Must get to other things and can't keep writing at the moment.

Ok, so I'm back.  I ended up googling "hard work" on lds.org and I found this: http://history.lds.org/article/brigham-young-teachings-hard-work-sacrifice-obedience?lang=eng
It is about the prophet Brigham Young and it talks about him being a hard worker.  I think that is where one difference comes in to hard work.  You must ask yourself: "What exactly are you working for?" and if it isn't toward something that is good, that you believe in, then the work is meaningless.  For Brigham Young, there was a purpose and he believed in it.  It made a difference.  You have to have an ultimate goal that is worth it all and, I believe, worth dying in the act of working for it.  I believe in the same things as Brigham Young, so I think I just have to focus more on what is important to me.  The things that I felt I wasted my time on were perhaps, just that.

Excellent: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1982/04/the-value-of-work?lang=eng&query=work
This particular quote from that talk is great:

Work is a blessing from God. It is a fundamental principle of salvation, both spiritual and temporal. When Adam was driven from his garden home, he was told that his bread must be produced by his physical toil, by the sweat of his brow. Note carefully the words: “Cursed shall be the ground for thy sake” (Moses 4:23; italics added), that is, for his good or benefit. It would not be easy to master the earth; but that was his challenge and his blessing, as it is ours.

We are cocreators with God. He gave us the capacity to do the work he left undone, to harness the energy, mine the ore, transform the treasures of the earth for our good. But most important, the Lord knew that from the crucible of work emerges the hard core of character.

Work is a blessing from God for our benefit and "...from the crucible of work emerges the hard core of character."