The Integrity to Wait

“And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?” (Mt 20:6 AV)

Like most, the common reader will see these workers lacking character.  It is quite the opposite.  They remained in the marketplace, looking for work for the entire day.  They were hired with one hour of sunlight left.  These men remained the entire ten to twelve hours or so.  They remained well past what would be considered prudent.  Who would hire them to work the fields with only one hour remaining?  It took a lot of character for them to stay there the entire day.  The owner of the fields rewarded them for their character.  He didn’t have to.  The labor they would provide for only one hour could have been made up the next day.  Rather, he arrived and hired them to work one hour because they had enough character to remain for an opportunity.  Those paid the same never saw what the husbandman saw.  The husbandman saw diligent character that was not being rewarded by opportunity.  Unlike those who complained about the wage, I admire these men and think they deserved a full day’s wage.  I know, because I have been there.

Many years ago, I worked at a golf course as a caddy.  My sons and I would arrive before daybreak.  Sometime around 5:30 am.  As the caddy shack goes, you sit there until your name is called.  Many days, it does not.  Either because there are too many caddies waiting for a loop, the weather is bad, or it is a holiday weekend.  We sat there many days.  Just sat.  There were some days we sat until we were the last ones left.  Many would give up and go home around 3 or 4.  By then, a four-hour loop was not possible.  One afternoon, I decided to stay.  The boys had another obligation, so I stayed.  Around 4 in the afternoon, being one of the few caddies left, the caddy master called my number.  It was the course champion and his father.  I doubled that afternoon.  They were expert golfers.  They knew their yardage before they approached their ball.  They knew what clubs then needed.  Their balls were always in play.  They had me walk without stopping.  They would tend their own flag.  As soon as they were on the green, I started walking.  By the time I reached their balls, they had caught up, and we swapped out clubs.  I kept walking.  They would make their approach.  Having hit on the green, they would walk past me as we swapped out their club for their putter.  The only time I stopped walking was waiting at the next tee box.  They would swap out their putter for their driver and I would start walking again.  What should have been a four-hour loop took only two hours.  They paid me very well.  I think I made $120/hour that day.  That would not have happened had I not stayed.  I stayed because I needed to work, no matter what it might be.  I stayed because I needed opportunity.  Laziness was not my problem.  Lack of opportunity was.

There is a great application for those who seek to change the world.  Sometimes, it is a matter of staying and looking for any opportunity, no matter how late in the hour or how small it might be.  I think it takes tremendous character to stay in that marketplace when the longer the day goes, the less one will get paid.  It takes a man of deep principles to stick with it.  It takes a man of integrity to serve for a little than not serve at all.  I think of our rural pastors who pastor churches too small to provide a comfortable income for the pastor and his family.  He serves in such a rural place that within a few years; he has met everyone in his community.  There is no hope of growing that church into a big work.  There will be no memory of him every serving there.  No plaque.  No building named after him.  If there is a history of the church, his impact will probably be only a sentence or two.  They labor.  They have little opportunity.  But their integrity will not let them quit.  They are there.  They are there all day long.  They are there because one little girl or little boy needs to hear about Jesus.  They are there because one family needs help lest their family ends in a broken home.  They stay through the same set of circumstances their entire life with little numerical effect to show for it.  These men are my heroes.  It is easy to stay faithful when you are busy.  It is easy to work for Jesus when you have more work than any one person can do.  But being asked to serve faithfully when opportunity is limited takes integrity which few can understand.