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Unless the Lord builds the house

(Ps 127:1)

         In my talk in the Orientation part of our Christian Life Programs, many of you have heard me tell the story of two workers digging holes. This story is a favorite of mine because it contains a lesson, which Jean and I have actually experienced, and continue to experience, in our married life. It mirrors our life before and after joining Couples for Christ.

         Whenever I reflect on this story, I always exclaim, “How true! Indeed how true!” For this reason, I thought that I should recast the story in the form of a parable, in the hope that, upon reading and reflecting on it, you too would find the lesson useful and nurture it in your hearts. I propose to call this, The Parable of the Missing Worker.

         A high-ranking government official is being given a tour of a reforestation area when he notices two workers digging holes in the ground. Using a shovel, one worker digs up the earth and carefully places the dug-up dirt around the lip of the hole. The other worker just stands there, with arms akimbo, waiting for the former to finish. When a certain depth is reached, the first worker will stop, will give the shovel to the second worker, and the latter will start shoveling the accumulated dirt back into the same hole that has just been dug up. When the hole has been completely filled up, the two workers will walk a few paces and will repeat the same process.

         Since this cycle of digging and filling goes on and on as the two workers move from one hole to another, the government official becomes curious. He asks the reforestation director of the area, “What are these two workers doing? Why is it that one worker will dig a hole and the other will just fill it up again?” The director replies, “Actually, there are supposed to be three workers in the team, but one of them is absent. The first worker is supposed to dig the hole, the second is supposed to put the tree to be planted into the hole, and the third is supposed to fill up the hole again. But the second person who is supposed to carry the young trees for planting and place them inside the holes is absent.”

         There is a lesson to be learned from this story. The two workers in the story are diligently digging holes and filling them up again. At the end of each day they are very tired. It is hard work, but for what? The two workers may work for weeks or months, but the place will remain barren. No trees will grow. No birds will be nesting. The place will remain barren and lifeless. In spite of their daily hard work, the area will remain a desert. Because one person is absent!

         Many couples are like these two workers. They work hard everyday. They faithfully do their daily “digging” and “filling”. The husband goes to the office early and comes home late. The wife does the same, if she is working. If not, she is also very busy with many errands: sending the children to school, cleaning the house, preparing the meals, shopping for needed items. At the end of the day, both husband and wife are very tired. It is hard work, but for what? The couple may work hard for years, yet their homes will remain barren, like a lifeless desert. Because one person is absent!

         In the case of the two workers in the story, the person who brings the tree is absent. With no trees for planting, nothing grows. And the place remains barren. The long and hard efforts of the two workers are rendered useless. They come home tired everyday after a long day’s work but there will be no trees growing.

         The same thing is true in our lives as husbands and wives. If one person is absent, if the team is not complete, if Christ is not with us, if He who is life Himself is not there, we will come home tired day after day, and yet our homes will remain lifeless. Just as the work of the two workers in the story are rendered useless in the absence of the person who brings the tree, our work and daily existence are also rendered meaningless if Christ, the source of life, is not in the center of our lives. As in the story of the two diggers of holes, no “trees” will grow, no “birds” will nest and sing, even if we spend long hours working day in and day out, if the third person, if Christ is absent from our lives.

         Meaningless! Meaningless! the Teacher says: all is meaningless! (Ec 12:8). Indeed our life, our work, all the things that preoccupy us, these are all meaningless without Christ. The psalmist has captured the essence of the parable: Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain (Ps 127:1).

         My brothers and sisters, let us not allow our labors to be rendered useless. Let us not be like two workers undertaking a meaningless pursuit. Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Let us welcome Him as the third person in our lives as couples. For Christ does not just carry the “tree” to be planted; He is the Tree of Life! He will build our home for us. And then our labor will not be in vain.

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