President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, years ago shared a delightful and inspiring story about his father, Henry Eyring, a renowned physicist. In later years, his father was a senior stake high councilor with responsibility for the welfare farm. As part of that responsibility, he assigned himself to work on the farm, weeding a field of onions. Nearly 80 at the time, and beset with debilitating pain from bone cancer, he persevered at his task, only to learn at the end of the day that the field he had just weeded had already been sprayed and the weeds would have died anyway.

"Dad just roared," his son related. "He thought it was a great joke on himself." Asked later how he could have taken the matter so pleasantly, he replied to his son, "Hal, I wasn't there for the weeds." (Henry B. Eyring, "Waiting Upon the Lord," a speech given at BYU on Sept. 30, 1990.)

We could draw a number of lessons from this incident, one of which is a quality exhibited by Brother Eyring to which we all might do well to aspire; an appreciation — even an enthusiasm — for labor not only for productive accomplishment but for its capacity to ennoble the soul and strengthen the character.

In a society where the hedonistic pursuit of leisure and entertainment seems increasingly to occupy the minds and energy of men and women, the scriptural passages and words of the prophets about the value of work seem to stand out in stark relief.

In Proverbs, we read, "The labour of the righteous tendeth to life," (10:16) and "in all labour there is profit" (14:23).

In instructing the saints who were endeavoring to establish Zion in the Great Basin, President Brigham Young seemed to echo the homey and practical wisdom of these Old Testament passages.

He said on one occasion: "Of the time that is allotted to man here on the earth, there is none to lose or to run to waste. After suitable rest and relaxation there is not a day, hour or minute that we should spend in idleness, but every minute of every day of our lives we should strive to improve our minds and to increase the faith of the holy Gospel, in charity, patience, and good works, that we may grow in the knowledge of the truth as it is spoken and prophesied of and written about."

President Young also said: "Everything connected with building up Zion requires actual, severe labor. It is nonsense to talk about building up the kingdom except by labor; it requires the labor of every part of our organization, whether it be mental, physical, or spiritual, and that is the only way to build up the Kingdom of God" (both passages quoted in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, p. 225). In 1936, the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression. The Church responded in part by inaugurating the welfare plan, built upon principles that are still in place today. On that occasion the First Presidency issued a statement, read in October general conference by President Heber J. Grant, in which they affirmed: "Our primary purpose was to set up, insofar as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole [getting something for nothing] abolished, and independence, industry, thrift, and self-respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be reenthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership.

"Our great leader Brigham Young, under similar conditions, said: 'Set the poor to work — setting out orchards, splitting rails, digging ditches, making fences, or anything useful, and so enable them to buy meal and flour and the necessities of life.' This admonition is as timely today as when Brigham Young made it."

And the concept of work as the ruling principle in the lives of Church members is just as relevant today.

Yet, it is hard on occasion to view work as anything other than drudgery. How can we find the zest for work that has characterized Brother Eyring and others?

An answer might be found in pondering the words of Paul, writing to the saints in Ephesus:

"Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ:

"Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

"With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:

"Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free" (Ephesians 6:5-8).

Paul's counsel is all the more meaningful, considering the category of people to whom it was addressed, bondservants who could not hope to enrich themselves materially by their own toil. Paul is encouraging them to sanctify their own labor by regarding it as heartfelt service to the Lord.

How much greater is our propensity to increase the pleasure we take in our own labor if we likewise regard it as service to God — and to His sons and daughters — knowing that in the process we are providing ourselves and our families with the material necessities of life. Any honorable vocation or profession in some respect or other blesses those who are served thereby. And, as King Benjamin so succinctly expressed it: "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17).