Sunday, July 19, 2009

Hard Work...


I've been thinking lately that a lot of the things in my life even the promises and blessing God gives require WORK not just half-hearted work but full on truly dedicated blood sweat and tears never stopping cuz it only gonna get harder HARD WORK...


Marriage is HARD WORK


Raising Children is HARD WORK


Being a child of God is HARD WORK


Even little things seemingly unimportant yet important meaningful things to me trivial to most probably and not taken seriously by much of the world... The world has invented shortcuts to many of these desires...


Natural child birth is HARD WORK (so hard I can't even fathom it just yet but I pray for the strength even now, Is it odd I feel like its my biblical right to experience pain during childbirth...)


Using cloth diapers will be HARD WORK ( lots of laundry, not so pleasant smelling laundry. I'm thankful for those who've gone before me... I will treasure their advice and suggestions )


Being a stay at home mom will be HARD WORK ( Not to mention God still hasn't disclosed to me if that is His plan.... but I keep praying it is and praying if it is not He will give me what I need )


Homeschooling my children will be HARD WORK


Being be a good steward of the Earth God has given us is HARD WORK ( this explains the cloth diapers and why I give Steve a dirty look when he suggests we use paper plates... LOL )


Now in all honesty one should know its kind of a gimme isn't it that all this stuff would be HARD WORK... its not rocket science its not a deeply guarded secret but I think often times we glaze over it or life gives us this idea that it'll all be ok and we don't have to work that hard... Life even gives us shortcuts to some of these things... like divorce and public school and disposable diapers... Convenience Ahh! My Dad likes to say that what everyone always hopes for and strives for is "an easy satiated life" a need for nothing... and yet even people who seemingly have need for nothing seek after things are never truly satisfied.... Only God satisfies!


God has been showing me lately asking me I think... all these things are well and good and because I desire to honor Him in them He is willing to bless us with them but I think He's also preparing me for the full on truly dedicated blood sweat and tears never stopping cuz it only gets harder HARD WORK...

Good thing I have Him cheering me on, giving me a hand up and providing for me. Praise His name for showing me the blessings that come from that hard work... may every drop of blood sweat and tears be for His glory! May my committment and desire in these things be with a heart meant to serve my Father in heaven! May it be His strength I depend on and draw from as I do what He commands!

3 comments:

Kelly said...

Amen, and amen. Hard, but beautifully satisfying work. Halleluah! We are created perfectly to do this hard work. I see it more and more every day. Motherhood and everything hard in life helps put a booster on our santification!

Anonymous said...

You know, so many people feel it's their right in life to just be handed things that nobody wants to take responsibility anymore. It's sad, but Sam and I talk about how all the adults in my complex are just big kids. None of them even make sure their kids are following the rules! If you don't want to work at being a parent, you shouldn't have kids. If you don't plan on making a marriage work, you shouldn't get married. To many get married thinking it's gonna make your life easy. HA. Everytime you take a shortcut in life, you realize it's just gonna hurt you when you have to turn around and do it right the next time. kwim?

Dawnie said...

I think, in all honesty, that there are some paths in life that some people are destined to walk *BECAUSE* God has lessons for them to learn for even harder work in the future.
In all honesty, cloth diapers, making your own babyfood, cooking from scratch, being a stay at home mom, it is scads more cost effective and satisfying to the soul and that tends to make up for the hard work that is involved. And really, once you get the hang of it, it gets easier.
As for marriage, yes, it is hard work. Tho, I will disagree on a couple of points, divorce being one of them: The man who professed to be called to do God's work was the very first man to physically, verbally and emotionally abuse me. I did everything the bible sugggested even prayed and fasted routinely and for nearly 7 long, horrible years, he put me thru hell, citing it was a husband's duty as orderd by God to discipline his wife and make her pleasing in God's eyes.
As I look back on the last 22 years, I realize that many of the harsh lessons I endured have only strengthened my faith and have allowed me to make a difference in a life or two here and there. I'm not perfect. I fall down a lot. My current marriage is rife with its own issues. I fall down a lot, but I get back up and look to God for assistance.
No one plans out how they will react or respond to what life throws at them. Many of us do not get married thinking "I'm gonna get a divorce in x number of years". We get married thinking it's for life and then Life happens and it rips everything to pieces.
One of the biggest reasons I still cannot bring myself to step foot inside a church on a regular basis is the lack of basic compassion, understanding, empathy and unconditional love that seems to often run rampant amongst the Christian communities I encounter. (Having marital issues? Well then, you shouldn't have gotten married! Having problems with your kids? Well then you shouldn't have had kids!)
The one thing that God keeps pointing out to me is Dea. She reminds me of our Aunt Ruth, whom she never got to really know. Ruth was a loving, kind, compassionate woman who loved God and did her best to follow God her entire life. If you screwed up, she loved you through it. She didn't have unkind words about it to you or anyone else. In fact, she'd do her best to defend you and say that God had a plan and if He didn't chose to reveal it to the rest of us, it wasn't our business. It literally dropped me to my knees howling with grief the night I got the call she died.
Life happens whether we are ready for it or not. Being able to respond to it comes from the strength of your faith in God. If you don't have a good foundation, you're going to have a knee-jerk reaction, I don't care who you are. Some things, there are just no words and no basis for comparision in educating on how to deal with.
My most feverent prayers are for Dea and Steve to have an extraordinary ordinary life in thier marriage and as parents, normal hard work and all.
ME