Today, all my dear ones were out from home, performing and pursuing their duties and obligations, as usual. Mommy’s working and our children going to school. And Daddy strong was staying at home.
I deserved a ‘look back’, I mumbled, as I dropped my youngest to school, but she didn’t. It made me saw her readiness for school as they play cheerily with new friends. Like every parent, I too am happy seeing them standing on the starting line of the never-ending learning episode of life.
So I went back home alone. Juggling through several books, I picked one; reading parts of it, before I decided my next move for the day. Several thoughts crossed my mind, mostly ‘what ifs’, and that’s why I’m writing this piece as you already know. Anyway, resting between few hours of the day, spending time alone, is not improper apportion of time wisely.
Few years have passed since I quit my job to tend our children. And I have been missing them already by being me alone at home. It was a joy spending time with one’s own children; more than a privilege one usually received. If they grow up to be God-fearing, fulfilling the wishes of us their parents and finding happiness, it would be a dream comes true.
In the meantime, there are times I wonder; why me? It could have been some other person although I do not know whom would it be. Was it a mistake? No, I don’t think so. Being the final decision taken by me, I blame none. But, when our life’s turns are limited and sometimes uneventful, the ‘what ifs’ suddenly creeps in.
In the material world, a person’s respect was determined by their working position and I possessed none today. The chances of me working again are hanging in a thread, diminished by sickness and the likes furthermore. But if it’s in the goodwill of God to happen, it will, because I have a God by my side who knows best for me. I bring none with me; I won’t take nothing either.
It could have been better not sacrificing my work culture, instead sacrificing relationships with my small family, it crossed my minds. Then, even if my body perished early, I could’ve left handsome monetary worth for the living. Yet it’s the opposite today. However, things get a makeover very easily, as change is the only constant thing on earth.
Giving the best possible education to our children becomes our priority now. We’ve to sacrifice our dream of pursuing higher education than our achieved knowledge, like most parents did, although I’m always willing to learn more or obtain more knowledge if possible.
Let me tell you one more thing: When my children returned home from school, there could be a battle-cry vying for a sleeping spot in Daddy’s arm, which makes every minute of my living worthy. It’s a deepest joy to see them sleeping away in the wonderful world of dreams through the arms of their petty-might parents.
You feel valuable because you’re raising human, not just an individual for your own perusal. Yet, by being part of the plan of God for raising humans who will acknowledge the Almighty, protect creatures living on the planet, and caring for the earth. And I agree that our priorities differ from one another.
In the stillness of time, we did move forward. One can commune with their creator in the stillness of time. Some gets renewed while some pave the way for behavioral discourse. God’s people came closer to him in the stillness of time than being buried in the hullabaloo of life.
Balancing Work and Life:
Just then I turned to a small daily devotional book, Our Daily Bread, which covered the talk of the wise man King Solomon. The Bible has always despised laziness. It even says, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” (2 Thess. 3:10)
In Ecclesiastes 4, Solomon talks of the need for balancing work and relationship. Being workaholic can lead someone to fall in a trap, it mentioned. Remember I’m not mentioning it to justified my job as a stay at home dad but after reading it I do feel better, to tell the truth.
Sacrificing relationships at the altar of success is unwise. Relationships are what make our life meaningful, rewarding, and enjoyable. Our relationships have purposes; it’s meant for solid foundation while working together as a team. Leading career-oriented life, which provide stability in workplaces, is the norm of our generation.
Yet there are few things to consider in our mind too. It’s better to know for whom we’re toiling for. A hard-working person is always envied by their neighbors. (V.4) However, our toiling and skillful work is vanity, like chasing the wind, should we not maintain checks and balances of our life’s relationships.
Signs of Success:
Let’s face the reality of life now. Most of the condo-occupied neighborhoods in the cities are quiet and serene. Several cops have been deployed to take care, and becoming their friends, for the few residents who aged past their prime. These neighborhoods hosted successful parents.
It’s agonizing, sometimes, going through the lives of these successful parents affected by crime once they try living peacefully, as there too are few whose sole purpose is to disrupt those peaceful minds. Daily news reported such unprecedented news. Most of the oldsters or golden-agers are hardworking people in their youth, which deserves lots of love and care.
Due to their hard work their offspring, children and grandchildren, are successful lots in their fields. They have resided in different states and/or countries meeting the requirements of their well established jobs. Not lack of love but devoted workers they are, so that they might meet their requirements too.
It is possible that hardworking parents who have earned thick paycheck entered into an empty room once they retired or decided to go slow. Their children had grown over the years, have their own career; there’s none to share the good news. However, as we called, it’s a sign of success bragging their past glory. And some of us are envious of them lots!
Thus says the Teacher: Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves. Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. (Eccl. 4:5-6)
Treasuring Love while on the Go:
There is a time for everything, and a season for activity under the heavens, we read in Ecclesiastes 3. In that way, a time to plant, a time to gather, a time to search, and a time to love. Our God has made everything beautiful in its time.
It is our obligation to love, at the same time toil, for our children or loved ones. What do workers gain from their toil if they do not know the reason for their toiling? Should someone miss the concept; it’ll be like chasing the wind.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will do it all (reward) for you. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but who seek the Lord lacks no good thing. So, treasure your love for the Lord and for your dear ones while on the go.
The Psalmist further wrote: Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. (Psalms 127) Our toiling, rising up early in the morning and staying up late night, would be in vain unless we acknowledge God.
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. (V.3, 4)
Now I felt blessed and thank God for filling my day with all these words from the Scripture, which he served to me in time. There, in his apportion of time, he surely melt the heart. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus! Our minds may falter but his abiding grace sustains the life of a wandering mind, like mine.
Beautifully written !!
Thank you for reading!