Back to Work

It was fun while it lasted. I enjoyed the week my Mom and I spent on the road, visiting friends and relatives, and not having to worry about much of anything except how far it was to the next gas station. But the vacation is over now, and while I'm glad to be back in my familiar home with my other friends and relatives, this also means it's time to get back to work.

Two days ago, I made an analogy comparing returning home from vacation to returning to our heavenly home from mortality. Unfortunately, this concept of going back to work fits the analogy fairly well. Mortal life has plenty of work in it, and some of us are almost eager to "rest in peace," but I'm not sure how much "rest" we're actually going to get. We know that missionary work will continue on the other side of the veil, and eternal progression takes an eternity of effort. I don't think we're really going to get an opportunity to rest from all our cares and labors any time soon. Cares, maybe; labors, no.

Naturally, the nature of our work may be significantly different on the other side. For example, we won't need to work for a living any more, so that's something to look forward to. The work in the post-mortal work will be spiritual rather than physical. In that sense, it may be said that we will experience physical rest, but if our bodies and spirits are connected in such a way that what happens to one will in some way affect the other, I'm not sure how much of a consolation that will be. Perhaps our spiritual work will begin to feel like physical work.

However you slice it, the afterlife isn't going to be an eternity of resting. We may get some rest, but we will also get plenty of work, and while the work may be very different than the kinds of work we're used to here, it still isn't likely that, after we die, we're going to literally "rest in piece." More likely, not long after we die, God's going to put us right back to work.