Yesterday, our family had the challenge of raking up the leaves on our half acre lawn from our huge cottonwoods and other trees before the storm came in. Miracle happened, the storm waited, and it is all back in our compost pile. As we dumped the final leaves back there, Quinn mused aloud, "I hope the next owners want a compost pile." :) It made me think about all we have done to our property, all the time and sheer muscle we have put into making it better, and I commented, "At least we left it better than we found it."
That makes me think about life and work. Sure, my husband and I had an ideal of what we were going to do with this property, but, really...to have left it better than we found it is success indeed. And what we learned about work?
-Work, work, and more work...and it is still never done.
-Everyone should have to shovel manure and get a little splatted on them to realize that a)pretty much everything cleans up and b)humility.
-When I was raking,-- surrounded by the quiet,-- mindlessly, repetitiously stroking leaves together, I had time to get to know myself a little more and think about all the things I would try and do and say if I were president of the United States :). Work is good time to ponder!
-Everyone has to pull their weight or something is ruined or someone else has to pay the price...there is never such thing as "something for nothing"
-Work truly is a blessing (see the BYU Mag article about Family Work...Spring 2000, I believe)
-Kids only truly learn how to work if you work right alongside with them
-When I work with my kids, I have some of my best conversations with them, and rarely a disagreement if we are both laboring hard.
-What we work on and consecrate our life to, becomes ours, in a very real, emotional and physical sense. Actually, I guess it is more of a shared ownership with God, who has given us stewardship...or is it even ownership?
Moving is a challenge, but I have loved the cleansing feeling of throwing away so much and giving what is or might be good to the DI or friends. I was burdened with too much stuff! I kept so much of it for so long, "just in case" my kids ever wanted to learn it, only to find that if we did ever use it, it was only for a short while. Well, there are a few things I actually used (Saxon math books!), but many that were extra. I found that the things my kids need to know I could write up, type up, print off a worksheet, or play a game with them in order to teach them...and then I don't have to store anything!
Moving has made me appreciate eternity (friends forever!), evaluate priorities (I pretty much only moved food storage, memories, and books!...oh! and my pillow-top mattress :)...), and consider God's will for me in my life.
A song that I heard as a child keeps going through my mind as I think of leaving so much and so many that I love. It comes from "My Turn on Earth", the song, "I'm not ready" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmR3DNBRrzo):
"Is it over. Have I finished the game? Have I found what I came here to find...Just a few moments more to the moment I leave it all behind me.
I'm not ready, I don't want to go, I cannot bear to leave, if I leave what I came for undone.
I don't think I am through! There are things I must do, there are still some things left that I must say...I cannot bear to leave."
The song itself is a little cheesy, but the lyrics keep floating through my mind.
Oh well...better go attack that dish full of dishes before my baby wakes up and I need to leave for our next stop in life...
...too late! :)
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