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If I had a dollar for every time I'd admonished my kids about "doing something useful today" . . . Or even for the times I'd said something similar about myself. "I guess I should do something useful today." I don't think any of us are really happy if we are purposeless and directionless, or feel like we're sort of deadweight. But time and time again, I let laziness or procrastination or distractions get in the way of doing all the useful things I had on my list of good intentions.
Being gainfully employed is our most common measure of usefulness. For the past six weeks when my husband was unemployed, we questioned what we were doing that was useful. He was looking for another job, but that didn't take up eight hours of every day. There was stuff to do around the house, but we struggled with motivation and dealing with interruptions. The change in employment status and in our day-to-day routines also changed our perception of usefulness.
Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. ~I Thessalonians 4:11
I left a part-time job in the summer and at first I thought I would have more time to be useful around the house! But then I started teaching at a second co-op and all that "extra" time vanished. I enjoy teaching, and there's a little bit of money coming in . . . but it's a bigger time commitment than I'd like, and I question whether it's worth it. Is that really where I'm most useful? Would it be more useful, and a better use of my time to get a "real" job?
What about when we retire? How will we make ourselves useful then? We've had little tastes of retirement life and there's lots to look forward to, but to be honest we are a little concerned about how we'll adjust when we don't have jobs to help us structure our days and help us feel like we're accomplishing something.
Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives. ~Titus 3:14
We've tried to raise our kids to have a good work ethic and integrity, and to make themselves useful. I don't know how well I've done in modeling that, but I've tried. We do want them to contribute positively in their jobs, in their schools, in the church, and in the community . . . But we also need to guard against having our self-worth completely tied up in what we DO and what we EARN.
Our workplaces and job descriptions change, we may go through times of unemployment, and we may find ourselves struggling to do the things we want to for various reasons. These changes come to all of us in different ways throughout our lives. The definition of being useful may need to change too. We are designed to work and to be creative. To be useful. Within God's plan for us.
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
~II Peter 1:5-8~
For the Write 28 Days Blogging Challenge, I've decided to explore the theme of living well and with purpose during times of change. A few years ago, as I neared the end of my years as a homeschool mom, I realized my world would change when my youngest graduated. My roles in the homeschool community and in my social circles were affected. Things changed in the workplace. Things are ever changing at church. And as my children grew up and the nest has begun to empty, family dynamics are changing. To our surprise, my husband's job ended at the very beginning of 2022, and that has brought another round of changes to consider! I know very well that writing about coping with change is not the same as having all the answers. I'll do my best to share what I'm learning and experiencing, and I'd love to hear from others in the comments.
This post is part of the Write 28 Days Blogging Challenge hosted by Anita Ojeda. Find all my posts for the 2022 challenge here: 28 Days of Coping With Change
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