Please Don’t Call Me Lucky

"The harvest is plentiful but labourers are few." 
Luke 10:2

I hesitate to call myself religious, because I'm not, but I am definitely on a spiritual journey and I have been on this journey for a long time. Recently this has become the forefront of my life mission and I have been making space in my timetable, with habits such as practising meditation daily and attending church and other spiritual teachings like Vedanta on a weekly basis when and where I can.

This Sunday at Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Harris Park, the priest spoke about the above sentence from Luke’s gospel. I quickly made note of it in my diary and took that thought home with me: letting it marinate and blossom in my mind.

The context of this teaching was different to the priest’s sermon, but this sentence struck a strong chord with me because it explained so eloquently the abundance that is offered by life, God, the Universe and Mother Nature, to each and everyone of us. This harvest isn't limited to anyone special. Instead, it is equally offered to everyone and the only difference between those who reap the rewards of the harvest and those who do not, is the work put in by the labourer.

But as the quote says, ‘labourers are few’, that’s why if we look at the world’s richest and wealthiest, they are few compared to the masses. Yet, if we look at their stories, we will notice that they worked on what they loved to get to where they wanted and collected the plentiful harvest that God/The Universe/Mother Nature (I use them interchangeably because that’s just me - pick the one you relate to most), had in store for them.

They were no more lucky than you or I. They had their challenges to overcome, hurdles to carry and bridges to cross. They had financial burdens and set-backs and some of them even lost millions of dollars and in some cases had to close their businesses and leave many people who depended on them, without jobs. Yet they still prospered, they still got by; they thrived because they laboured.

As I have grown older, I have realised that a person’s work ethic is a very sexy and attractive quality: how do they step up when they have to deliver? How do they work? How do they plant, tend to and then collect their harvest? I've noticed that everyone loves a good meal, but not everyone wants to take the time and energy to harvest it or prepare it. I've also noticed that this is what separates the rich from the poor - the rich are rich because they labour and collect the harvest and the poor are poor, because they don’t. And this has nothing to do with ‘luck’ and everything to do with the work we do and how we do it.

To finish today’s blog, I want to leave you with something to think about: next time you are about to call someone ‘lucky’ because their life seems to be perfect or they have everything figured out, check yourself and instead pay attention to their work ethic. Ask yourself: what are they doing to reap the harvest that they have? How are they applying themselves in their work to thrive and succeed? And if you want the same for yourself, instead of blaming your circumstances and complaining about how hard it is (because, let’s be honest here, everyone has their own hurdles to jump), ask them what they do and how they do it.

Remember, there is plenty for everyone in this world.

Just be prepared to roll your sleeves up.

Luck has nothing to do with it.

Work does.