Busy Work

Early in my marriage it would infuriate me that I could be cleaning, preparing meals, and doing laundry while my husband sat and read. In my mind (and upbringing) reading wasn’t “busy”, reading was a leisure activity. He would argue that he was busy when he was reading.

33 years later I can see that reading is “busy”, i.e., worthwhile labor. He is a self-educated man with a college degree. In other words, most of what he knows and believes today is far removed from his college education.

At the time, if I read anything it was a novel, something I did for pleasure. For him, reading was a way to understand the world and what was happening in it. It is how he formed his worldview and how he determined how to live.

My worldview was formed by listening to other people. My actions were largely moved by who I was with at the time. I see now that it taught me a lot to see him “read” while I was “working”.

What we learn as children sets the stage for how we think later in life. Because my understanding of “busy” was strictly physical labor it is still hard for me to feel like I am doing anything of real value unless it is physical. Other women ask me about my ministry and I am almost embarrassed to admit that a lot of it is done in conversations with the women I mentor or sitting around reading and writing. I don’t feel “busy”.

I met a friend today and she greeted me with something like, “Well, there’s the busy lady.” Inside I was thinking, “Well, not really!” As we talked about what we had been doing I realized it was true, I have been busy – just not by own definition of busy. Through my conversation with her I realized I had done a lot though my house still looks like it could use a good scrubbing!

Over the years I have sat idly on the sidelines as my husband has repaired, replaced, or built something for me in our home. He is as gifted with a hammer as he is with a book. I am grateful for the thousands of dollars he has saved us over the years but I have learned very little about carpentry and electric.

I am also grateful for the hours and hours he has spent “busy” in a book. I have received my own post-graduate education as he has learned and discussed his new understanding of topics that concern everyday living.  In the last twenty years these have been largely from the scriptures or from those who write about the scriptures.

Now, as I spend more and more time studying and writing to teach or publish I can see that my attitude about “work” needs to change. Reading is a lot of what I do, it is necessary to know what God’s word says about the things I am writing and sometimes it is helpful to read what others think about what His Word says (though, not always!).

I recently studied the book of Ecclesiastes and discovered that Solomon found that even physical labor could be empty if it was without purpose or desire to please God. He said, “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 2:11) Later, he finds there is good reason to labor, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”  (Ecclesiastes 4:28)

In the final chapter of the book Solomon determines that the only thing of any value is the fear of God. He said,  “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13

Using the gifts God has given us is a part of keeping His commands. Some of us are better at writing with our hands than we are at building with them. Some of us read more while others “work” more – I still think they accomplish more than I do – but I am working on that definition!

In whatever we are doing, however it is that we define “busy” and “work”, our bottom line is the same as Solomon’s: fear God and keep His commands.