Tougher Still

It was the summer before my Jr. year in High School and Doug Heinz had moved onto 10 acres and built a new home but was wanting some land clearing done. I unwittingly took the job thinking it would be nice to work outside for a change ( I sold shoes in the mall) Doug wanted me there early... 6 a.m. start...so the heat of the day wouldn't interfere and I cut, chopped, raked mowed, stacked rock etc... all summer long. At the end of each day I would despondently await Doug's return home...he would evaluate the day...I remember recieving an instruction on raking at the end of a long day of raking and the next day I raked it all over again...this time better, this time the right way. I would build rock walls around trees and the poor workmanship or unstable areas would be pointed out and I would re do them. I was forced to get it right, to work harder than I wanted to and to face the quality of my work. My work is still evaluated everyday, there are still some areas where I don't have experience or I simply haven't done my best, but either way I am given the chance to grow or do it again...to get it right. I wanted to quit that job almost everyday...but I stuck with it and toward the end of the summer I could begin to see the transformation of the acerage...slowly but noticeably. It's hard work and it's the type of work that forces you to do your best but the garden of our souls and the souls of others requires the painstaking work of transformation...some will just quit...but either way at the end of the day our work will be judged. I learned some toughness that summer...I'm learning toughness still.