A Mind To Work

      The impossible things seem to get done fast when people put their minds to it.  I have had some projects that seem to be impossible to begin with but as the day or days go by, they get done.  My first project as a young kid, was unloading a full load of corn into the corn crib after school.  In the beginning, you couldn't even get the shovel into the wagon bed as it was full of corn.  You had to clear away enough space to get that first scoop of corn out and then you could keep going hindered only by the nail heads that were sticking up in the wooden wagon bed.  I had to keep going as it was getting darker and darker and the faster I could go, the faster the wagon would be emptied and the quicker I would get my quarter.  Nehemiah 4:6 says, "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work."  The Israelites came back to an impossible project.  The walls of the city had been destroyed and they had to be built back up.  This verse reminds us of the attitude that they had in doing this work.  Simply put, they had a mind to work.  later on, we read in Nehemiah 6:15, " So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days."    
      In less than two months, the work was finished.  They had plenty of reasons to slow down and even to quit but they didn't.  The description of the workers was that they had a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other.  They were ready to either build or fight, but they were not going to quit.  It's easy to get discouraged in our projects for today.  You might be facing a project that will seemingly take you forever to finish and you may just want to quit with a "Well, what's the use" attitude.  What you need then, is a "mind to work."  You certainly will be criticized by those around you who say that you will never get it done.  We had a man in Gloucester county who was building a house all by himself.  Each day he would do a little more and as he did it, everyone was criticizing that he was doing either this or that wrong.  It didn't stop him.  He kept working, brick by brick and then finally put the roof on.  He got more criticism but the house kept taking shape day by day.  May we have the attitude that the Israelites had our projects for the LORD because we have a mind to work.  Praise God that He gives us the strength to accomplish all things through Him.