Wood & the Nature of Man

There is a great article in the most recent issue of "Northern New England Journey" from AAA. I can't link to it because there isn't an online version (its a member magazine). The title of the article is "How Much Wood?: The restorative power of honest labor" by Craig Idlebrook. In it, the author tells about moving back to Maine with his wife, who is native Mainer. He began to go crazy in the woods, "The trees surrounding the house comforted [my wife]; they were old friends from childhood. To me they were something from a Grimms' fairy tale." Then one day he decides to go out and help his father inlaw split wood.

But wood splitting was my salvation, an endless supply of work that needed to be done. I'm a working breed. Academics gave me constant assignments to keep me from climbing the walls. Now, instead of doing required reading, I pick up the ax. There is a primal happiness that comes from watching a log split in two that no term paper can match.

The author goes on to describe the hard work and sweat that goes into splitting and then later brining in the wood. He finishes the article with this line, "I've learned to love Maine over the years. How could I not? There's so much work that needs to be done." Great article and well written and it demonstrates that God made man to work. Work fulfills us and completes us. It is our nature to work and we need work to be what we were created for. The fall may have made us resent work and it made us work harder to produce less, but the need for work is not a curse in itself. Man was given work to do in the garden when perfection still reigned. Well, I've got to go. I've got a lot of work to do today! :)