Enjoy the Season - October, 2014

" To everything there is a season,  

a time for every purpose under heaven."

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Kim and I are working our way through Short and Sweet by Katherine Loop. This is a book of short stories with a message. The story, Enjoy the Season has a really good message that I thought would be great to share with you. When applied to homeschooling, the message i got was to not stress out over all the courses I think we need to cover before graduation. Then Saturday evening it hit me in a different way.

The story is about two brothers, James and Eric. As the story begins it is winter and James is complaining about the cold, but Eric is enjoying the snow.

Then comes spring. The brothers have too much to do with schoolwork and planting. James is complaining about all their father has given them to do, but Eric says, "I'm sure father wouldn't give us more work to do than we could handle. He loves us so perfectly. This hard work must be just what we need. I'm going to choose to enjoy it!"

When James complains that they can't possibly get all the work done, Eric remembers, "...it was his father's problem to figure out how everything would get done! Eric was only responsible for doing each task with a full heart. The smile returned to Eric's face. He did not have to carry the burden; he just needed to be diligent with the tasks his father had given him."

I had a lovely Saturday planned: clean my parent's house, do the laundry, go to the library, finish this newsletter, and work on a sewing project.

By noon, I had the laundry going, the house cleaned, and we were back from the library. I just need to feed my mom lunch and the afternoon would be mine!

Then the doorbell rang.

We have friends that are in charge of the food bank at their church. When they have extra, they often bring it to us. The cans of food and bags of beans were easily put in the cupboard. But there were also 8 lbs of strawberries that needed attention right away. As I was washing them and cutting off any spoiled spots, I decided to put 3 lbs in the freezer, make 3 lbs into jam, and we could eat the other 2 lbs before they spoiled.

By the time I had the jam in the jars, it was time to attend to my mother's needs again. After that was done, I had 30 minutes until time to fix dinner. After dinner, Kim brought me the dress she wanted to wear to church. It needed to be ironed -- all 5 layers of ruffle!

Across my brain burst the news-flash that I was not going to get to the fun things I had planned to do. In my head I started to complain. I did for everybody else today. I didn't get to do anything that was for ME. But, God brought the message of Enjoy the Season to my mind.

The work that my Father arranged for me on Saturday was exactly what I needed; I just needed to choose to enjoy it and do each task with a full heart and let Him carry the burden.

I know you have days like mine. And I know you have the same Father I have. He has planned our days and our tasks (Psalm 139:16). Let's practice choosing to enjoy them and let Him carry the burden.