I worked all day and felt nothing was done

a poem about work and purpose

demonstrating a prayer kneeler at my woodworking booth

This past weekend I was doing some woodcarving outside at the craft fair here by the War Eagle Mill in Northwest Arkansas and it was very fulfilling. I was sweaty, sunburnt, and sore by the end of the weekend. But it was satisfying work.

Not all work feels this way.

I find a lot of work on the computer drains me. Many jobs aren’t designed with humanness in mind. We enemy against rulers and principalities and the cosmic powers over this present darkness.¹

As I wrapped up a day of work a couple of years ago, feeling defeat, I began this poem. It’s been sitting, and I just finished it this week. It feels fruitful to have it completed.

Here’s the poem:

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I worked all day and felt nothing was done

by Durgan Maxey

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I worked all day and felt nothing was done
My body half as tired as my heart
And as the sky is beckoning the night
The ending light reminds me of the start

My toiling in the heat and in the soil
These days it helps my heart and spirit burn
While other labor leads me to recall
The dust I’m from is where I will return

Can I find any work that will fulfill
Here in this mechanized humanity?
Where digital convenience traps my mind
The soul removed from my reality

But as I take a step into the world
My naked feet upon the living earth
And I subdue the chaos to create
My hands at work with beauty giving birth

I catch a glimpse of hope and holiness
Emotions flood as Eden comes to me
A Garden full of dirt and fruit and life
A place to walk with God and to be free

And so, until I find my days complete,
With calloused hands but feeling in my soul,
O, let me strive to live a quiet life
To work all day and feel that I am whole

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Thanks for reading. Send me a reply or comment with your thoughts! 🙏

Shalom.

-Durgan

P. S. Some inspiring reads I’ve enjoyed on my journey of work and purpose that you might find interesting:

• Garden City by John Mark Comer

• The More of Less and Things that Matter by Joshua Becker

• “Leaf by Niggle” by J. R. R. Tolkien

• Every Good Endeavor by Timothy Keller

1. Ephesians 6:12 ESV https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EPH.6.12