Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Taking Time to Smell the Roses...

I was talking with a good friend of mine the other day. We were talking about our lives and the busy-ness. They also live on a farm and they have their own family landscaping business. The Bible tells us it is really good to work hard. In fact I read something in 2 Thessalonians this week in the New Living Translation that really jumped out at me.

2 Thess 3:7-15 For you know that you ought to follow our example. We were never lazy when we were with you. We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so that we would not be a burden to any of you. It wasn't that we didn't have the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow. Even while we were with you, we gave you this rule: "Whoever does not work should not eat."

Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and wasting time meddling in other people's business. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we appeal to such people--no, we command them: Settle down and get to work. Earn your own living. And I say to the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good.

Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter. Stay away from them so they will be ashamed. Don't think of them as enemies, but speak to them as you would to a Christian who needs to be warned.


If you live on a farm and try to grow and raise as much of your own food as possible, there is a lot of work involved. Just like all the comments I got about what I did on Monday. It had to be done. I was the only person to do it, so I did. What Terri and I were talking about though, is we need to take time to enjoy life and our family and friends as well. Our son is 23. He likes extreme type sports. He even takes softball and volleyball to the extreme level sometimes. It is easy for me to say, "I can't do that" and think that I don't need to have time to relaxe with him. Neither should he have to always sit around and just talk with us in order to relax together. I do think there is a give and a take. I also think that we can be too quick to say, we don't have time to do that. We have chores, etc. I think the heart strings are tied in enjoying being with one another both at work and at play.

Take the time to smell the roses (we don't have any). =) Enjoy walking down a country lane, the feel of standing on the hill in the pasture, a beautiful sunrise, a walk in the cool woods, or even to see a storm coming rolling in. Enjoy it with your family and friends. We need to be busy and work as the verses above told us, but we need to relax as well.





13 comments:

Kelli said...

Thank you for sharing these wonderful thoughts, Marci. I've been stopping to enjoy the cool evenings because they may be over for awhile soon. :0)
Kelli

Unknown said...

Yep, those are my clothes. heehee Thanks for airing my laundry. ;-)

Marci said...

Ginny, at least it was your clean laundry that I aired!!!

Thanks for the help today!!

Paula said...

Thank you for the reminder. I appreciated the story of your son and his extreme sports. The photos are great, but I especially like the barn with the clothes on the line. Thanks for posting!

CONNIE W said...

I love the photos!

LadySnow said...

Thanks for the reminder Marci...and love the photos. :D

Tina Leigh said...

Marci I think there are pretty much two ways of life going on now-a-days....folks like me & you that know you have to work & you just do it & then this younger generation that really just does not work! They seem to be able to "get by" & they are satisfied with it. I tell my boys all the time "if you dont work you dont eat" however our government has provided so many ways for folks to get around the working but still able to eat! It has caused a mess! There is joy in work....it makes the "kicking back" oh so much bettter. Sometimes Danny & I have to make ourselves take "time out" & boy do we enjoy it. Oh by the way....I am eating M&M's right now & feeling OH SO FINE!!! That was sooo cute!! GREAT POST!

Paula said...

CCV? How funny! And I bet that was too much fun acting out!!

Unknown said...

Wonderful pictures.

Well, some people have such a struggle to go through life, that's work on itself.
I'm talking about people with a handicap.

Well, it's greater to give than to receive.

LBP said...

Wow! You and I are on the same wavelength this week. I blogged about something similar this week.

Sharon said...

Wow! I didn't mean to start something by saying you're my hero. It's just that I don't hear much about women doing so much work like you mentioned the other day.

I totally agree that there should be a balance between work and play, but these days most people just want to play. I had to defrost my upright freezer yesterday before putting up some corn hubby brought home from the farmer's market. When I was through (and very tired), I had a good feeling of a job accomplished and couldn't help peeking in there a couple of times last night to see how nice and clean it looks. :-)

My hubby has had three back surgeries and is not able to work. He'll be 60 next year. I have back problems myself and he doesn't want me to do "too much". However, we both sometimes do too much and then pay for it.

Let me just say I admire you women that are able and willing to work with good attitudes. The attitude is extremely important, because really, we're to do all things for the Lord. I consider everything I have as belonging to God and I am blessed to take care of it for Him.

May God bless you!

Anonymous said...

What a reminder! I too get to busy doing here at home, and although I enjoy it for the most part, I don't think it still falls under the title of relaxing and enjoying the quiet life.

Charity Grace said...

So true!