I grew up in a home where having a strong work ethic seemed understood. I honestly can't think of many times where I didn't see my parents working hard w/ their jobs or working hard at home on jobs there. Basically I didn't see my parents rest that often...perhaps on the family vacation they did rest. If we were home though it seemed filled w/ work.
Now, I don't know if it is possible to say they didn't rest b/c I think all of the work it took to maintain our home/land was somewhat relaxing to them. I mean they enjoyed it at least. I rarely saw them spend a whole Saturday relaxing...watching "the boob tube" (as my dad would call it), or reading a book, or ________. There was ALWAYS something to be done around the house/property so they did it. What a great thing I learned. Work ethic. The Lord had entrusted this home to them so they worked to maintain it themselves. They used the land to feed us. I mean a massive garden every year. I know this b/c I was out there every day weeding or picking the ready to harvest food daily. I learned to observe a situation and see what needs to be done and then go and do it.
When I say that we were in the garden daily esp in the summer I mean it. We didn't get to play that day until we had brought in the ready vegetables or fruit (strawberries mostly) for that day. I remember mom trying to make it fun out there. We would play games (back to her being intentional with her time with us) about numbers or "name that tune" kinds of games while we worked. Now, when work was finished we played hard. Usually running up the hill to our neighbors house and jumping in the pond to go swimming. Sometimes after things were picked we still had a couple of hours of sorting or shucking...we got to do this in the shade. I remember sitting under the huge trees in our yard shucking corn. Kansas is hot in the summer. Somehow though, I think the food we ate tasted better b/c I was a part of bringing it in.
While these are great, I mean great things to have learned as a child...I now find myself struggling as an adult. Jason and I have had many conversations about rest. He will tell me that I don't rest. He will say he observes my family not resting even now. I don't really know what to do with that. I do believe that resting is important. Heck, God rested on the 7th day! He said that that was a good thing to do. To observe all that you had worked so hard to do the days before and rest...then get back to it the next day. I am able to rest when we go away on vacation. But it takes me getting out of my house and away to rest. I don't know that that is healthy long term. I think I need to figure out a way to rest here at home. To acknowledge a day where we rest. A sabbath if you will. Now I have actually tried this before. Taking one day a week to be our sabbath day of rest. Working in ministry full time is difficult to make the traditional Sunday our sabbath...so Friday or Saturday could be it...but honestly - I stink at it.
Here's the kicker...I have 3 little ones watching us to see if we are able to just rest. To be. To breathe. To not do laundry, or house work, or yard work, or _______ one day a week and just be together. I would like to learn this. I would like to learn it so I can teach it.
I think it's funny what my maiden name means. Unruh is a German surname that: Refers to a restless, fidgety, nervous person, from German unruhe, meaning "unrest".
Hmmm. Unrest. I don't want to be this way. I desire to teach my children all the benefits of a strong work ethic like my parents did...but I want to couple that with teaching them about resting - at home - that it shouldn't take a vacation to get me to rest. I guess acknowledging it is the first step huh? I best get working on resting...that didn't come out quite right!
*pic is of the property where I grew up and got married. I miss it.
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