The Cure for Idleness: Work!

She watches over the affairs of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Proverbs 31:27

As I think about my grandmother’s day, I get tired. 

She got up early enough to make a full breakfast before my Papa went to work. She scrambled the best eggs I’ve ever tasted, toasted bread and fried up bacon and sometimes sausage too.

When breakfast was over, she washed the dishes by hand and started the laundry. Mid-morning, she hung the first load of laundry out to dry and started washing another load.

In the summer, she went out to the garden to pick vegetables. Then, she cleaned them and used them for lunch and dinner. Lunch was a full spread too. I remember cantaloupe, tomatoes, peas, corn and mashed potatoes plus a meat. Oh, I can’t forget the homemade cornbread or biscuits – sometimes both!

After lunch, she cleared the table, washed the dishes and put any leftovers away for supper.  Then, she went back to the laundry, garden or some other household chore. She never complained though.

She just kept working.

Sometimes that meant shelling peas or snapping beans, watering the garden, raking leaves, quilting, preparing a Bible lesson that she would teach that week, hanging out more laundry and preparing for supper.

Supper was another full meal with a spread of fresh vegetables, meat and homemade bread.

I don’t know about you, but my day looks very different. Modern grocery stores and restaurants make food prep a whole lot easier. Electric dryers and prepared foods make my day a lot less hectic. 

I wonder if sometimes my time on social media counts as the bread of idleness. Yes, Pinterest helps me plan meals. Yes, Facebook helps me keep in touch with friends. However, it’s easy for me to spend too much time on these sites and enter into idleness when I should be actually working.

My Granny didn’t have time for idleness. Perhaps that was a blessing of her generation. 

Lord, help me not to eat the bread of idleness during my day. Keep me away from things that distract me from the work you’ve given me.

Stacy