If you feel overworked and burdened down.
A thought lately:
To live life diligently.
Truth be told, I have much work to accomplish each day. The life of a visionary I suppose?
Since the very first years of adulthood I can remember many pursuits, a busy calendar and a life of ambition.
Now here as a wife and mother I have found that life requires an extra, heaping dose of diligence that was not required in my single, independent days.
After all, supporting my husband in his pursuits and training my children in a the way of a godly life are now just a few of the top priorities I hold each day and they are often all-consuming.
And what of the loads of laundry, dinner to prepare, keeping pantry stocked, and reminding the boys over and again that showers are a necessary part of this life?
Truthfully, I’ve found it easier to justify a “need” for comfort in this season.
There is too much and therefore I can be tempted to shut down.
But each month this year I have chosen to soak in a different book of the New Testament and last month’s was 1 Timothy.
And these are the verses that have left the greatest impression on me.
He is referring to the widows of the church and how the leaders ought to care for them, and then says this—
“And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not. Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”
It would appear that we as women are easily prone towards certain habits.
I am not too proud to admit that I notice these tendencies in my own heart nearly everyday.
Give us a moment of leisure and we’ll often be prone to words that are not fitting in the life of a believer.
Give us a purposeless life and we will make others lives our new purpose in the very worst type of way.
The verse from Proverbs was recently brought to my attention again:
“The wisest of women builds her house,
but folly with her own hands tears it down.”
We don’t set out planning to tear apart our houses (and perhaps that of our neighbors?) but without a diligent pursuit, without a vision and direction forward we are naturally prone to destruction.
This morning as I read and meditate I am struck by the contrast that I find in Romans 12—
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”
This is a life well-lived.
Proverbs 31 shows us well the example of caring for the needs of our home with excellence and Romans 12 deals with such matters of the heart.
To love others well takes diligence.
To be consistent in prayer takes diligence.
To pursue a life of hospitality requires diligence.
When our pursuits are aimed correctly there is no room for slothfulness, for gossip, for idle speech that breaks apart homes brick by brick.
When we are given wholeheartedly to a life of godly pursuits we have not the time to consider tearing one another down.
I must ask myself then, when faced with my own poor actions —have I not been busy enough about the Kingdom work?
And what I take forward into the coming days—
To not loathe the amount of work set before me, but to embrace it as a beautiful part in my sanctification process.
To ensure always, by careful reminder of God’s Word, that I am about the work that brings eternal reward, and not simply a life of frenzied action and worldly endeavors.
To test myself, whether I have grown to love comfort more than I ought. And then instead, to rest when I ought and to expect to give myself wholeheartedly to a life of fruitful work for the majority of my days.