Yesterday, as I was dry-walling with the Goob, the following song came on:
I have always felt a trifle guilty after listening to this song...or at least more resolved to spend more time with my kids. But yesterday, as I listened, a different meaning came to light.
I think it is more about what we really want. I have always felt bad for the dad in the song, knowing that taking care of a family does take time. It does take sacrifice. A father cannot always be there for his kids' games because he has to pay for their games...or a mother, for that matter. The fact is that there are definitely some times when you have to just take care of physical, maintenance needs.
But the deeper question struck me, a question my friend Abby brought up when we were doing baby pool time together: "Do you live to work or do you work to live?"
I think that is the message behind this song: it is not that we have to drop everything and be with our children when they ask us to spend time with them. What do we really want? Do we spend so much time working or in projects that we just crash at the end of the day and push the people away that we are working for? Do we spend the weekend just thinking of recovering for Monday? Or do we work so that when we are not working, we can really live? You know, love, breathe, make memories, have experiences with those who are most dear?
As I thought about this, a profound thought struck me: God's work and glory is not to create worlds without number. His work and glory is His family..."to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
Do we want what God wants? To "work to live" is the ultimate end of the path that leads us to God. Is that what we truly want? Or do we just want the rush that comes from working and building...good things in themselves, but perhaps not the end thereof? He gives us this life to choose. Family or work. Others or self. We can choose what we want. He will lead us along if we want His choice or will leave us to our own devices if we chose otherwise.
What do you truly want? God will let you chose where and what you put your time into but not the consequence of your choice. Those consequences of choice are pre-set and clearly manifest in the lives of others around us, the arts and the scriptures. And God loves agency enough to let us figure our priorities out for ourselves.
"He call, persuade, direct aright,
And bless with wisdom, love and light,
In nameless ways be good and kind
But never force the human mind." ("Know This That Every Soul Is Free" Hymn #240)
It made me think of building our house in a whole new light. It is not a finished house I should be focused on now. It is how building this house is building my family, teaching us and helping us learn lessons of work, sacrifice, doing a job well, finding happiness in any situation. It is not "putting the baby to sleep" that is the ultimate end, but using that time to put him to sleep (a necessary thing in itself) to strengthen our relationship.
I am a check-list kind of girl. What do I really want? To "finish" and check all those little items off my list? Oh, the warm fuzzies of it all :)! To live to work? To get projects done? Or is it lasting and meaningful relationships? The items on my list can still get checked off. I know God is a god of order and planning. But perhaps He just knows how to see the big picture of what needs to be worked on in the moment: a project or a relationship and it is our challenge to do the same...
Hmmm....food for thought. I will have to think about this some more....
I think it is more about what we really want. I have always felt bad for the dad in the song, knowing that taking care of a family does take time. It does take sacrifice. A father cannot always be there for his kids' games because he has to pay for their games...or a mother, for that matter. The fact is that there are definitely some times when you have to just take care of physical, maintenance needs.
But the deeper question struck me, a question my friend Abby brought up when we were doing baby pool time together: "Do you live to work or do you work to live?"
I think that is the message behind this song: it is not that we have to drop everything and be with our children when they ask us to spend time with them. What do we really want? Do we spend so much time working or in projects that we just crash at the end of the day and push the people away that we are working for? Do we spend the weekend just thinking of recovering for Monday? Or do we work so that when we are not working, we can really live? You know, love, breathe, make memories, have experiences with those who are most dear?
As I thought about this, a profound thought struck me: God's work and glory is not to create worlds without number. His work and glory is His family..."to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
Do we want what God wants? To "work to live" is the ultimate end of the path that leads us to God. Is that what we truly want? Or do we just want the rush that comes from working and building...good things in themselves, but perhaps not the end thereof? He gives us this life to choose. Family or work. Others or self. We can choose what we want. He will lead us along if we want His choice or will leave us to our own devices if we chose otherwise.
What do you truly want? God will let you chose where and what you put your time into but not the consequence of your choice. Those consequences of choice are pre-set and clearly manifest in the lives of others around us, the arts and the scriptures. And God loves agency enough to let us figure our priorities out for ourselves.
"He call, persuade, direct aright,
And bless with wisdom, love and light,
In nameless ways be good and kind
But never force the human mind." ("Know This That Every Soul Is Free" Hymn #240)
It made me think of building our house in a whole new light. It is not a finished house I should be focused on now. It is how building this house is building my family, teaching us and helping us learn lessons of work, sacrifice, doing a job well, finding happiness in any situation. It is not "putting the baby to sleep" that is the ultimate end, but using that time to put him to sleep (a necessary thing in itself) to strengthen our relationship.
I am a check-list kind of girl. What do I really want? To "finish" and check all those little items off my list? Oh, the warm fuzzies of it all :)! To live to work? To get projects done? Or is it lasting and meaningful relationships? The items on my list can still get checked off. I know God is a god of order and planning. But perhaps He just knows how to see the big picture of what needs to be worked on in the moment: a project or a relationship and it is our challenge to do the same...
Hmmm....food for thought. I will have to think about this some more....
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