Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for there is no work or
device or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the place of the dead), where you are
going.
Ecclesiastes 9:9-11
Ecclesiastes 9:9-11
By Ada Nicholson Brownell
Solomon, in his
kingly robe, his once-handsome face now etched with the journey of his smiles
and frowns, must have shut his tired eyes before he wrote Proverbs 31.
All around the
palace, his wives chattered, screamed at children and giggled. A few primped
before a mirror, hoping to catch their husband’s attention that night. Perhaps
the first of the 700 wives started the trend of doing nothing but looking
beautiful and criticizing other women in the house. I imagine each woman wanted to be the loveliest,
the sexiest, and the one he would choose most.
But after being surrounded by all that outward
splendor, Solomon ‘s mind caught a vision of a different kind of woman. He
imagined a lady who “looks well to the ways of her household, and eats not the
bread of idleness.”
A traveling
evangelist also wrote about the value of not being idle. The evangelist, the
Apostle Paul, picked up a reed with his rough hands, work-worn from stitching
tents, and wrote to the Thessalonian
church, his graying head filled with love and yet, frustration.
“Keep away from
every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teachings you
received from us,” he wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:6. He pointed out his team was
not idle all the while they were with the church in Thessalonica.
Paul became even
more bold in his statements about lazy people. “If any will not work, neither
should he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10).
Although many
people work at avoiding things they don’t think they enjoy—like washing dishes,
cleaning the house, doing laundry, bathing the children, doing odd jobs,
working diligently at a career—they miss out on the satisfaction work gives and
the joy of having chores done.
My Mom loved to
quote the scripture about “No work, no food,” but I grew to enjoy what I could
find to do constructively with my hands. I did it with all my might, as another
scripture says. Even as a kid when I cleaned the kitchen and mopped the floor,
I loved to look back at what I’d done as if I’d created a work of art out of
chaos. To me, it was beautiful.
After I married
and we eventually grew to seven people in the house, I used to set time goals
for completing different tasks. Did you know you can make your bed in less than
five minutes? Clean out the dishwasher in just a few seconds more than it takes
to heat a cup of water in the microwave? Less than 15 minutes to clean to
kitchen after a normal meal? Put everything on your bathroom vanity away and
polish the sink in about 30 seconds? Fold and hang the laundry straight from the
dryer in five to seven minutes?
Furthermore, have
you tried planning meals in your head while doing some of the above tasks?
Time? Zero.
An orderly home
creates a different atmosphere. We can do a little deeper cleaning once a week,
but I do different tasks on separate days.
We don’t need to
be fanatics about neatness and put the bread away before the person who got it
out can get peanut butter on it, but doing what we can when we can, gives us a
chance for fun if we plan.
Planning is the
key to hospitality, budgeting our finances, finding ways to stretch the family
income—and getting adequate rest, too. The secret is being organized. You can
always fit more into organized space.
Sidebar:
Polishing the Inner Woman
Giving hubby or
the children about five minutes of attention after work or school usually makes
the rest of the day go better. With
effort and a sense of urgency, a woman can love every member of the family and train
children in the way they ought to go while multi-tasking.
But there is more.
Some mothers and fathers pray briefly with their children before they leave the
house each day, but if we can’t manage that, we need to pray with them
sometime. It’s even better if the family has devotions together. Reading
scripture and praying for one another only takes a few minutes, but every once
in a while we can devote more time so we can discuss problems, answer
questions, or have intense Bible study together.
Other important
tasks that actually aren’t that time-consuming: Reading the Word and connecting
with God privately. We can pray and memorize scripture while doing other tasks,
even while jogging or doing a few exercises and stretches. But it’s important
to kneel for a few minutes daily to give the Lord undivided attention.
Most of all, being
in God’s House also is time well spent.
When we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, everything
else we need and sometimes even our desires will be added (Matthew 6:33).
Pastors, Sunday school teachers, children’s workers, youth leaders, Christian
friends, become positive mentors, tea ching our children to obey their parents
and The Ten Commandments. The church can help couples make solid marriages, and
help individuals to allow God to direct their steps—making the rest of their
lives better.
As with budgeting money, we can find ways we waste minutes and
hours that would be better spent if we managed them correctly.
The results help
us at the moment—and possibly change our family for eternity.
©Copyright Ada
Brownell
MEET ADA BROWNELL
Ada Brownell is a retired newspaper reporter who also has
written for Christian publications since age 15. She is author of six books,
two fiction and four non-fiction: The Lady Fugitive (fiction); Joe the Dreamer: the Castle and the Catapult (fiction); Imagine the Future You (a motivational
Bible study for youth and family worship); Swallowed
by LIFE: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal (Evidence you are
more than a body; Facts, Faith &Propaganda, a book to
sustain and strengthen faith in God; Confessions
of a Pentecostal, Listed by The Library Thing for many years as one of the
10 best books on Pentecostalism. Out of print but now available for Kindle.
Read the first chapter of The Lady Fugitive, a finalist in the Clash of the Titles
Laurel Award, here: http://ow.ly/QzlIP
Ada’s
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/adabrownell
Ada's Barnesandnoble.com
Author Page http://ow.ly/PUWHO
No comments:
Post a Comment