Labor While it is Called Today
I have usually viewed the parable of the laborers of the
vineyard in the context of what it takes to be heirs of the kingdom of
God. The various laborers were working
throughout a single day, and I think a natural interpretation is to consider
that day as representing our mortal life.
There are those who “labor” in the gospel the whole day (i.e. their
whole lives), and others who don’t find the gospel until later in life and so
they are represented as starting to work in the sixth or ninth or eleventh
hours. All will receive the same wage of
eternal life no matter when they start, for the Lord isn’t counting time
laboring but rather what we have become in the end because of that labor. We need not worry about how our labors compare
with the labors of others, but we need to only worry about our own service to
the Lord with the knowledge that He is indeed good and will do “what [He] will
with [His] own” (Matt. 20:15).
As I thought about this parable today, though, I realized that I may be able to apply it to my own life in another way as well. I’ve been reminded recently of a missed opportunity from several years ago when fear stopped me from gaining knowledge and experience that I felt inspired that I should pursue. It was in some ways a one-time opportunity; I felt afterwards like Oliver Cowdery who was told when he was not able to translate like Joseph, “It was expedient when you commenced; but you feared, and the time is past” (Doctrine and Covenants 9:11). And so I had to move on, but occasionally I wonder about what I missed and what opportunities and knowledge might have been afforded to me if I acted differently. If I had chosen to labor in the vineyard instead of “standing idle in the marketplace” at that time, surely I would been better prepared for whatever the Lord had and has in store for me. What the parable taught me today was that the Lord is merciful, and though I may not have gone out “early in the morning” to labor in the vineyard, there is still time to labor. Though we may miss out on certain opportunities by not working in the vineyard when the Lord first invites us, we can still come to the vineyard and labor for Him as long as there is still daylight left. That all of the workers received the same penny despite their different start dates is an indication of the mercy of the Lord for us when we have not come unto Him as we ought. If we have missed opportunities because of our own failings to heed the Lord’s direction for us, the message of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is that there is still time to jump in and work, to find the opportunities to labor that He has for us today. Even if the work of a three o’clock laborer isn’t quite the same as that of a nine o’clock worker, we can still come to Him and seek to make up for what we missed. We may not be able to change past mistakes, but we need not “stand all the day idle” because of it—we can, through the Lord’s mercy, still “labor while it is called today” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:25).
As I thought about this parable today, though, I realized that I may be able to apply it to my own life in another way as well. I’ve been reminded recently of a missed opportunity from several years ago when fear stopped me from gaining knowledge and experience that I felt inspired that I should pursue. It was in some ways a one-time opportunity; I felt afterwards like Oliver Cowdery who was told when he was not able to translate like Joseph, “It was expedient when you commenced; but you feared, and the time is past” (Doctrine and Covenants 9:11). And so I had to move on, but occasionally I wonder about what I missed and what opportunities and knowledge might have been afforded to me if I acted differently. If I had chosen to labor in the vineyard instead of “standing idle in the marketplace” at that time, surely I would been better prepared for whatever the Lord had and has in store for me. What the parable taught me today was that the Lord is merciful, and though I may not have gone out “early in the morning” to labor in the vineyard, there is still time to labor. Though we may miss out on certain opportunities by not working in the vineyard when the Lord first invites us, we can still come to the vineyard and labor for Him as long as there is still daylight left. That all of the workers received the same penny despite their different start dates is an indication of the mercy of the Lord for us when we have not come unto Him as we ought. If we have missed opportunities because of our own failings to heed the Lord’s direction for us, the message of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is that there is still time to jump in and work, to find the opportunities to labor that He has for us today. Even if the work of a three o’clock laborer isn’t quite the same as that of a nine o’clock worker, we can still come to Him and seek to make up for what we missed. We may not be able to change past mistakes, but we need not “stand all the day idle” because of it—we can, through the Lord’s mercy, still “labor while it is called today” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:25).
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