Is There Such A Thing As Unimportant Work?
By Steve Gahagen
A few years ago, my wife and I were blessed with three new grandsons, quickly multiplying our grandchild count from one to four in a period of one week. Life was good! Two of the three new additions were a set of identical twins born to my older daughter and her husband in Columbus, Ohio. In the first few months, I traveled twice from Minneapolis to help.
It had been a long time since I had taken care of babies. Jane and I have four children, but since our youngest hit 30, that season seemed a distant memory. Caring for the twins was intense because it was challenging to stay focused and calm when two were screaming in sync.
As a grandparent, the process of caring for and feeding infants all slows down. No one would describe me as a baby person, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to care for our now six grandchildren as infants. I’ve experienced it in a way I don’t remember experiencing it as a father. I’ve treasured the tender moments giving a bottle to them before they go to bed. The tender sounds they make, the way they cuddle close while they’re being fed. They are completely dependent on someone to intervene for them or they would surely die.
The work of a mom sustaining the life of a baby is not sexy. It doesn’t get headlines. It’s pretty monotonous. It’s sacrificial. It’s not particularly honored in our culture today. When that son or daughter grows up and earns awards, it’s not as if attention immediately goes to the mom who kept that baby alive and created an initial foundation of love. We can easily forget that each one of us began our journey totally dependent on someone doing their job just because they loved us and wanted us to be our best. We didn’t do anything to earn that. I heard about a post on a moms’ Facebook page that said, “Hey moms, today it’s Friday. And what does that mean for us? Absolutely nothing.”
All work is important. Some of the most important work many will never know about or see.
Questions to consider
What are important jobs people do that get little notice?
What important work have you done that was mostly behind the scenes?
If you’re a mom, dad, or grandparent, how could you leverage your strengths to be your best and to do your best work?