Online shopping has soared in the wake of COVID-19, boosting merce giants like Amazon and Walmart, and creating record growth for UPS and FedEx. While some question the moral legitimacy of these gains, others celebrate the market’s ability to respond plex demands, innovating products and adapting supply chains to meet countless human needs.

Yet we should also remember that such businesses are not mere machines to be retooled, adjusted, and manipulated for materialistic purposes. Fundamentally, businesses are organisms and ecosystems for relationship and creative cooperation. Likewise, the workers who achieve these ends are pursuing their individual callings, serving neighbors in distinct and meaningful ways that pave the way for human fellowship.

For munity in Midlothian, Virginia, the pandemic brought this reality to light through the work of their UPS delivery driver. Anthony Gaskin faithfully served their neighborhood through the darkest days of the crisis, often delivering more than 180 packages in a single day. “Anthony Gaskin is considered a hero in the Hallsley neighborhood,” writes WTVR’s Scott Wise. “During the pandemic, his daily deliveries have been life-saving, both literally and figuratively, to the Midlothian neighbors.”

In response, more than 100 neighbors rallied together to publicly celebrate the driver, waiting outside and in parked cars to cheer, hold signs, and honk as pleted his route. “I wasn’t quite sure what was going on at first,” Gaskin told ABC News. “It felt like my heart was going to jump out of my body. To tell you the truth, I’m not used to that kind of attention. So it was a total surprise.”

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It’s yet another example of how the pandemic has reminded us of the dignity and purpose behind jobs that our cultural institutions have traditionally denigrated or dismissed as being somehow secondary. Such jobs are now being designated as “essential,” and their work is rightly praised. But their value goes well beyond meeting tangible needs.

When one peruses the many emails sent from grateful neighbors, it is immediately evident that Gaskin’s work had social and spiritual meaning, as well:

“Through COVID, Anthony has continued working, delivering packages at our doors, record numbers of them, over 180 times to date,” Hallsley neighbor Patty Friedman wrote in an email. “I wanted to thank him personally for how much he helped me feel e when I moved in during a pandemic. It was terribly lonely and he was always the highlight of my day. Mentioning this to a few people and the response I got was all I needed to know I was not alone.” …

“Anthony always delivers our packages with a wave and a smile,” one appreciative neighbor wrote about the UPS driver. “Sometimes he is the only outside face we see during the day. We appreciate his hard work and dedication during the pandemic, which delivered food, supplies, and even holiday gifts to a high-risk family.”

“Anthony always smiles, waves, and goes above and beyond to deliver packages with care,” another neighbor wrote. “He makes you feel like a friend when you see him. He brightens our day, whenever he drops off a package, which is frequently at our house! He stands out from ALL other delivery drivers and we love him! Cheers to Anthony!”

“Thank you Anthony for all you do,” a third neighbor added. “My six-year-old daughter hasn’t seen either set of grandparents in over a year. This has been very hard on everyone. Many of the packages you deliver are from them. The joy the packages bring makes it worthwhile. Thank you for always delivering them with a kind smile and a friendly wave!”

Our economic imaginations tend to focus on the bigger-picture, consumer-centric outputs — the services rendered, the products created, the packages delivered. But behind these efforts are countless ponents, supported by myriads of people with profound creative potential, each striving to meet each other’s needs through innovation, hard work, and basic economic exchange.

As a result, our work is inevitablypersonal, relational, munal — an opportunity to manifest our social natures as human persons, working with God and co-creating alongside our neighbor.