Dear Friend,
It’s always a bit of a rough transition in our house from summer vacation to starting a new school year. You can imagine my amusement when my youngest child, who is in sixth grade, recently expressed his exuberant joy that both of us would be getting a day off from our “work” this Labor Day (yes, it’s been two full weeks of school for him. And yes, he considers it work).
His enthusiasm for the break from work did cause me to pause and reflect...
Work and rest show up remarkably early in the Bible. In the second chapter of Genesis, we see God Himself at work:
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” - Genesis 2:2-3 (NIV)
Just a few verses later, God gives Adam work to do:
“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” - Genesis 2:15 (NIV)
What I find interesting about this passage is that work comes before the Fall. Work itself wasn’t the punishment — it was part of God’s good creation mandate. It was satisfying, and it stewarded good things and led to the enjoyment of rest.
Of course, anyone who has ever had a difficult job — or even just a difficult Monday — knows that work doesn’t always feel that way. After the Fall, Genesis describes work becoming toilsome and frustrating. And for people living in extreme poverty, the nature of work can be deeply wearisome.
The women and men who join Five Talents programs are not strangers to hard work.
They are farmers growing food on small plots of land. They sell vegetables and household goods in local markets. They sew clothes, raise livestock, make bricks, prepare food, and run small businesses. Many work long arduous hours simply to provide for their families.
Yet hard work alone does not always provide a pathway out of poverty.
Without access to a safe place to save, basic financial services, literacy, business skills, or affordable capital, it takes just one illness, failed harvest, or unexpected expense to erase months — or even years — of backbreaking work.
Five Talents doesn’t teach people to work. We help remove some of the heaviest barriers that prevent their work from flourishing.
Through community-led Savings and Literacy Groups, participants learn to save regularly, access small loans from their group’s own savings, develop business and financial skills, and build the confidence to make decisions about their future.
A farmer can purchase better seeds. A mother can expand her market stall. An entrepreneur can buy the equipment needed to grow a small business. A family can begin saving for school fees rather than facing a crisis when tuition is due.
And over time, something deeper happens.
People begin to recognize the gifts and resources God has already placed within them. Their work produces not only income, but greater confidence, generosity, and hope. As businesses grow, neighbors may find employment. As savings accumulate, families become more resilient. As people discover their God-given potential, their families and communities are strengthened, and flourishing of the body and soul takes root.
This Labor Day, while my son and I are both enjoying a day off from our respective “work,” I’m grateful for the reminder in Genesis that work was part of God’s good creation from the very beginning.
And I’m especially grateful for the thousands of hardworking women and men in Five Talents programs who are using their abilities, creativity, and determination to build a better future for their families.
Thank you for coming alongside them and helping their hard work bear fruit.
