Hard Work

I’ve never been averse to hard work, but I am reluctant to put much effort into uncertain ventures. There are very few guarantees in life. Most of us start on a path without knowing for sure if we will make it securely to the end without paying too high a cost.

My friend DH and her husband have taught me some lessons about hard work. Over the years, they have raised beef cows, chickens, and goats, planted a variety of fruit trees, constructed hundreds of houses, provided for countless people, and started a church in our community. I’ve received the fruits of their labor: the best beef, eggs, fruits, vegetables...oh, and they also built my home. They start new projects regularly. I absolutely love being a spectator—observing and learning from them.

Last week, I received a windfall. The wind knocked down one of the branches off my apple tree. I ended up with more unripe apples than I could handle. At first, I searched for a way to make use of these apples without putting too much work into it. I thought about giving them away as feed for animals or using them for compost. Instead, I ended up spending several hours in a hot kitchen turning those apples into sauce, pickle, and hummus. I realized how much labor went into what I usually buy from the store for a few dollars. Yet the products of my work brought me much more satisfaction. Later that evening, I told DH how much I appreciated all the hard work she did daily. We came to the conclusion that good things require hard work and hard work brings satisfaction.

Another lesson that she has taught me is to factor God’s contribution into every project. When starting anything new, I tend to look at my natural abilities, accessible resources as well as liabilities and limitations. I hope for God’s help, but I don’t count on it. I write about depending on God, but my decisions and actions don’t always align with what I write. DH has taught me to trust God and to recognize Him as the majority shareholder in every good venture; and that when God leaves a project, it’s time for me to move on too.  

I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength--to do the hard work that is required to carry out His Will—which in turn, brings satisfaction and fulfillment. (My own paraphrase of Philippians 4:13)

Examining Intentions

“Active habits are strengthened by repetition but passive ones are weakened.” (The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis)

Habits are formed when thoughts are turned into actions. Let’s say you have positive thoughts like: “I should exercise daily, floss my teeth daily, and drink more water.” If you act on these thoughts and make them a daily practice, then the habit is strengthened and reinforced. However, if you ignore the thought and don’t act on it, eventually it will weaken and fade in importance. Similarly, let’s say you have a negative thought such as: “I’m afraid of failure, so I won’t try anything new.” If you act on this fear by refusing to explore new projects, you reinforce your fear and anxiety. Yet, if you ignore the fear and try new things, your anxiety is diminished.

Converting positive intentions into actions strengthens good habits, while allowing negative thoughts to pass through without acting upon them will eventually cause them to fade away. Although this seems simple, it is much more complicated than it appears. As anyone who has made a New Year’s resolution can tell you: unexpected stresses come up and your good intentions are laid aside while you find comfort in your bad habits. I’ve never heard anyone say: “I’m so stressed right now--I want to go run a few miles and then eat a salad!” What I have heard is: “I’ve had a bad day--I need a drink” (or substitute any personal vice here.)

As if all this weren’t complicated enough, sometimes what appears to be an honorable intention may be motivated by our weaknesses. For example, most of us want our children to succeed. This is widely accepted as a good intention that we are all encouraged to act upon. We work hard, save up money, and make sacrifices, so that we can give our children every opportunity to fulfill their potential. We convert our positive thoughts into actions, and they become a part of our parental duties. However, if we really think about what drives our desire for our children to succeed, we might discover some less-than-ideal motivations: If my son doesn’t succeed, others might think I’m a neglectful parent. If he doesn’t get a good job, I might have to continue supporting him. If he doesn’t have a wonderful family life, I might be blamed for inculcating negative character traits in him while he was young. His life is a reflection on me as a parent, and thus some of my desire to see him succeed is motivated by my own need for societal approval.

The motives behind every thought need to be examined carefully before the thought is converted into action, or else we might inadvertently end up reinforcing a poisonous habit. Once we are convinced that our intentions are pure, then we must act right away—before the thought fades from our conscience.

Reflection

I spend a lot of time reflecting on God—thinking and studying about Him. Yet, that is NOT what God intended. 

“God made humans in his image reflecting God’s very nature. You’re here to bear fruit, reproduce, lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!” (Genesis 9:6 MSG)

God wants us to reflect His image, NOT just reflect on Him. Thinking, studying, and meditating may help us to understand Him—which is a great start. Yet God’s intention is for us to mirror Him.

In order for a mirror to reflect anything, there has to be light. I tried the following experiment: I went into a bathroom with no windows and turned off all the lights. I stood in front of the mirror. I couldn’t see anything. Then I took a flashlight and aimed the light at the mirror. I could see a shadowy image of myself if I hit the beam of light at a certain angle. Then I turned the flashlight around so that the beam was now pointed at the subject that was meant to be illuminated (in this case my face). The reflection in the mirror became clearer. Then I just turned on all the overhead lights in the bathroom. Now, I could see everything—myself, the towel rack, the wall behind me, the soap dispenser, the spots that needed to be cleaned on the mirror…

I imagine that the mirror is our earthly life and the reflected image is our soul. When God looks at the mirror of our life, He is expecting to see Himself in our souls. We tend to shine what little light we have onto the mirror of our earthly life instead of focusing the beam on the Subject that is meant to be illuminated. And then we wonder why everything is so shadowy and unclear. God’s natural light makes everything clearer. Unfortunately, this includes the blots on the mirror that mar His reflection. The scummy spots in our character obscure His image.

God’s nature is productive, fruitful, and bountiful in all that is good, loving, and pure. And when our souls reflect these characteristics, we mirror God’s image.

Internal Chatter

(Part of John study)

My sheep recognize my voice.” (John 10:25-30 MSG)

Is my relationship with God so intimate that I could recognize His voice amidst the chatter of earthly life? What prevents me from recognizing and understanding Him?

The obvious answer would be there is too much noise around me—what with all the distractions provided by technology, people, busyness, traffic, etc.  If I were able to get away from all of this, if I could live out in the country, away from all the hub-bub, if I had a quiet place of retreat—then I would be able to recognize God’s voice better. Well, I do live out in the country and have quiet places in my home. Yet I still have trouble tuning in to God, because I have a steady stream of internal chatter going on at all times.

God’s voice is drowned out by the noise of my desires. I want stability, security, happiness, health, and peace—for myself and all my loved ones.  My mind is always buzzing with ideas on how to attain and maintain these desires of mine.  The cacophony of cultural expectations also decreases my sensitivity to God’s voice. My mind keeps blabbing on about seeking significance and being productive. Finally, there is a quiet culprit that keeps me from listening to God. It’s the voice of reason. It tells me to not go overboard in my commitment to God—be reasonable; be pragmatic; make sure you enjoy a full life; don’t let God take over! No matter where I go, this internal dialogue is the biggest barrier to recognizing God’s voice and understanding Him.

“My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief.” (John 10:25-30 MSG)

Truth will overcome falsehood. The Legitimate Voice will one day triumph over the illegitimate noise. Our Father is so much greater than any destructive force.

 

Sidekick Spouse

My husband is in a profession that people tend to respect. I, on the other hand, am a home-maker/housewife. When we meet new people, they often size us up and dismiss me as immaterial. I’ve gotten used to this. One of us has to take the lesser role in our partnership, and it might as well be me. Moreover, I’ve come to realize that there are some benefits to being considered the sidekick spouse.

I rarely have people trying to befriend me expecting something in return. Most of my friends are truly genuine and are interested in me and not in any perceived power, influence, or wealth that I possess. By flying under the radar, I am also able to gauge people better. I can spot those who are manipulative, profit-motivated, and dishonest. Most people don’t put much effort towards trying to impress me.

Sometimes I feel like an undercover superhero—like Wonder Woman, with her costume underneath her secretarial clothes—my powers and skills are hidden from strangers. This allows me to observe others unobtrusively, function without recognition, and serve anonymously.

 

I’m not saying that I’m totally comfortable with being incognito all the time. Some days, I feel like revealing my true identity to everyone—to stop being inconspicuous--to  be recognized and considered worthy. But if I followed this urge, I would diminish my power and effectiveness. So I shall continue to wear my Wonder Woman t-shirt underneath my clothes…most days!  

Finding Myself

“If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.” (Matt. 10:39 MSG)

I often hear from parents that their young adult children are still searching…trying to find themselves. Well, I’m in my 40’s and wonder if I have found myself!

Who am I? What is my purpose? I often ask God for answers to these questions. I would like very much for Him to be my guide as I search for my own significance. But Jesus says that we have this all mixed up. I’ll never find myself this way. I must forget about myself and merely seek God—not so that He can assist me or be my advisor or agent—but because He is the Only One who is significant.

“Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” (--from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis)

If we spend our lives searching for who we are, we might discover that our core is corrupt—full of vanity, self-absorption, pettiness, and degeneration. It’s like searching for a treasure all your life and finally finding a treasure box full of worthless, fake jewelry. What a waste of time!

Yet what if we modify our search parameters and seek the answer to the following questions:

Who is God? What is HIS purpose?

And during this quest, just maybe…He will reveal how I fit in to His plan.

Compost to Share

I used to have a compost pile in my backyard. We just dumped grass clippings, dead leaves, and any other organic waste together and waited for it to eventually decompose into humus—a crumbly black mixture, rich in nutrients, which could then be added to our soil as fertilizer. Or at least that was the plan. We didn’t know that you also had to add water and aerate the mixture regularly with a pitch fork. We were good at dumping yard waste on the pile. Along with grass clippings, weeds, and dead leaves, we would drag fallen tree branches onto the pile. This prevented us from mixing the compost, delaying the decomposition process by years. If we had shredded the wood into small pieces before adding it to the pile, we would have been able to use our yard scraps as fertilizer. Instead, our waste was wasted—we moved away from that house before our compost was usable.

Recently, I saw a post on Facebook that said: “Compost to Share.” What a generous offer! Someone had gone through the trouble of collecting all their organic waste, processing it into small pieces, watering it, mixing it for aeration, waiting for it to turn into useful humus, and now they were willing to share it with others.

We all have plenty of debris from our life experiences that can be composted and shared. Most rough situations we go through --our failures, poor choices, ignorance, carelessness—can turn us into useful humans. Just dumping it all into a big stinky pile is not enough. We have to process it, shred it, water it, mix it, and wait for it to turn into useful humus. Then this compost—these lessons in life--can fertilize our own growth…and maybe even help others.