Confessions of a NON-Workaholic

 Good Saturday morning!

        Hope everyone has had a wonderful week. I have, except for the slight (understatement of the year) overexposure to the sun yesterday at a golf outing. I have been on vacation a little. Most people know I work two jobs. I have my absolute passion job for ERBA, I do it because I love it deep down to my toes and I feel it is what God put me on earth to do. I also work for TEAM ITS, which is my fun job. I do the marketing and digital media services and it reminds me so much of the days of scrapbooking and creating fun events for Robert and his friends growing up. I took this week off from ERBA -okay, I took Tuesday, Thursday (except for a trip to the Newton office) and Friday off from ERBA so I could get ready for yesterday's activities, the Effingham Chamber Golf Outing. We were sponsoring the first hole so I got to greet everyone and tell them about us before they started getting upset with their golf swing. It was a good time visiting with people. When I said I was the marketing manager, one guy says, "So you are responsible for the billboards I see all over town?" Well yes, I am, I love that I have created billboards. That was not even on my bucket list, But you can see how stuff like that falls into a similarity with scrapbooking, and for that matter, layout and design through being on the high school yearbook staff didn't hurt either. 

    What a lot of people don't know is I also co-own a small business that does marketing materials for small businesses. I don't advertise this a lot because it seems like I am always behind on this. When I get caught up, I will probably market it. 

    And THEN, I sell Tupperware AND Farmasi, again these are things that are in the works. The main reason I sell both of them is because I believe in them and I use them a lot but I plan to progress very shortly into having my facebook pages set up for both. 

  I am having the time of my life. I love everything about my life, I love the fact that I am part of the Jasper County Tourism Council, that I sit on the Advisory Board for both Eastern and Lakeland in the IT field and that I am very involved with my church.

And then people label me a workaholic and I cringe. I once read an article very unbecoming to those of us who don't like to sit still. It was from a Christian perspective and was basically putting a person considered a workaholic down.  I couldn't remember the name of the article so I just googled Is Being a Workaholic a Sin. And what do I come up with? "The Most Respectable Sin in the Christian Community" and Workaholism is a sin that must be stomped on" Ugh.

BUT, I decided to read a couple of these articles and I realized, happily, I am NOT a workaholic! (This is when I change the title of today's blog, lol)

According to these articles a workaholic is someone who has over 4 of these traits:

1. You think of how you can free up more time to work.

2. You spend much more time working than initially intended.

3. You work in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness, and depression.

4. You have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them.

5. You become stressed if you are prohibited from working.

6. You deprioritize hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise because of your work.

7. You work so much that it has negatively influenced your health.

So, I learned the difference. There is only ONE of these that pertains to me, TWO once in a while if I have a deadline at ERBA or TEAM ITS, but that is definitely not an all the time thing. The one I have is being told by others to cut down on work without listening to them. 

As far as deprioritizing hobbies, some of my work IS hobbies, I still have time for my friends- spent all day with two of them last Saturday, meeting two for lunch today, and anybody who knows me knows they can find me at the gym at 5:30 most weekday mornings. I start every morning out with a devotional and prayer and spending time with God and I realized THAT is what powers me. HE is who made me this way and yes, that article I read a long time ago said there are no rewards from God for being busy, I have finally realized I don't believe that. 

I have a friend who is constantly saying "Everything in moderation" and he is right. I realized this morning that I don't place so much value on work that I forget to thank the One who lets me have this life. I thank God EVERY morning for the things He lets me do. 

So, I guess I will go back to the beginning and cringing at being called a workaholic and say, yes, I believe if someone lets work takeover every aspect of their life, including taking them away from God, their family and their friends, that is a workaholic, and yes, I will agree, that is a sin. 

The Bible has a lot of good things to say about hard work though,

Colossians 3:23 says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters."

Proverbs 14:23 says, "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty."

and of course,

Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me"

Which tells me, God handed me what I see as this incredible, challenging, exciting life and I love Him even more for that.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago about getting rest, God didn't rest on the 7th day of creation because He needed to, He rested to show us we needed to. Which brings me to the fact that God works harder and longer than all of us, He is ALWAYS working. 

In the one thing leads to another way, this reminded me of the song Waymaker. So, that is what I am leaving you with.

Have a great week!

That Proverbs 31 Woman

 So, it is that time of year again. The day all of us compare ourselves to the 21 verses in the Bible that tells how to be the perfect wife and mother. I have spent many years reading that passage and looking at how short I fall. And for some reason, God finally pointed out a couple of things to me. And I want to pass them on. 

So, just as a refresher here is Proverbs 31:10-31

A wife of noble character who can find?
    She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
    and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
    all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
    and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
    bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still night;
    she provides food for her family
    and portions for her female servants.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
    out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
    her arms are strong for her tasks.
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
    and her lamp does not go out at night.
19 In her hand she holds the distaff
    and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
20 She opens her arms to the poor
    and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
    for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
    she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
    where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
    and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
    she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
    and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women do noble things,
    but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
31 Honor her for all that her hands have done,
    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

I was probably around 5 the first time I heard these words that they really sunk in. I am sure it was either a Mother-Daughter banquet or Mother's Day. I listened to the words and thought with pride, this is MY mom. She always had food on the table, and honestly, she made most of our clothes, I remember anytime decisions were being made about purchases at our house, Mom and Dad sitting in the living room making those decisions together. Our house was always spotless, she was always there for everything at school, and I watched as she took care of her own mom, and even our extended family; when someone needed a gap filled she was there. 

As I become a young wife and mother though, comparing myself to Proverbs 31, I felt like I always fell short. I couldn't seem to keep it all done, and I would get tired. When Robert was a baby, we lived 13 hours away from my mom, and Andrew worked between 70 and 80 hours a week. I was bound and determined to do everything right, down to cloth diapers because they were better. I made homemade baby food because it was healthier, I made a lot of his clothes, mainly because Proverbs 31 said I should.  I decorated whatever apartment we were living in and cleaned it constantly, And I hated the Proverbs 31 woman. 

So here we are, 25 plus years later, and I have revisited her. Tearing it apart piece by piece, I realize if we are judging a lifetime instead of a moment, I think I'm okay. There have been days I am sure Andrew was not happy with me, I think we have all been there. but for the most part, I think he would tell anyone that he does have confidence in me and most days he feels his life is better because I'm in it. I also can say my family has not ever had to run around naked, so they were clothed, nobody has ever had to go without food either. There are days, and more so in the last few years than when Robert was too young to fend for himself that I would say, "there is peanut butter in the cabinet" if I was in the middle of something and someone thought they would die of starvation, but the point is, there was still food for them. 

And then, this is one of those things that I JUST NOTICED THIS YEAR. She provided food for her servants. WHAT???? You mean all these years, we thought we had to be Superwoman because of Proverbs 31 and SHE HAD HELP??????? Yeah, I don't know why that never hit me until this year. 

How much easier would it have been to live up to all of this if you actually had several (notice is says more than one) people to help you. Ironically a friend mentioned this week on facebook about these celebrities that think childrearing is so daunting, they had lots of people helping them. Well congratulations because I would nearly place money on the fact that if you were reading this, you didn't have a staff of servants at your beck and call. And right here right now, if you are where I am, I imagine you can look back and see that in that big picture, your kids survived, and probably think you are pretty great now that you got them through the eye rolling years. If you are one of my younger friends who are still raising littles, or not even started there yet, please don't let one day define you. Those sayings that in a hundred years it doesn't matter what your house looked like, but it will matter that you made a difference in the life of a child, so true. Just sayin'. I know there were times Robert and I was doing something and the house was less than spotless, but I can't pinpoint a single one. I know he can tell you of the things we did together though, and that is what is important. 

As women, we also run into people who judge us for our choices on whether or not to be a stay-at-home mom, or if we work outside the home. I think Proverbs 31 shows pretty easily that we can do either of these things. When Robert was little, we lived out east and didn't know anyone. Until we moved, I had every intent to keep working and have Robert in daycare. As it turned out, I didn't want to leave him with strangers, so I quit my job a month before he was born as we headed to Pennsylvania. That was the perfect choice for ME and for him at that time. We moved back to Olney and he started school. I realized everyone had more of a life than I did, so I went in search of a job. That job has turned into my career and I really believe God had every intent of me doing this and doing it well as much as he did on me being a good wife and mother. 

That brings me to the most important line in this whole passage. In verse 30 it says a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. THAT my friends is the point. Fear the Lord, listen to him and He will make you the wife, the mother, the woman He wants you to be. I've missed that all these years. The rest will fall into place if you love the Lord. 

So, go back, read that passage again and place the emphasis where it belongs, Love the Lord. He will take care of you and help you through those eye rolling years, and mold you into who HE wants YOU to be.

Happy Mother's Day.

I'm leaving you with a short film we showed at our Mother Daughter banquet last night. Get out the tissues and enjoy. Funny enough, Robert was one of the servers last night for us. So he saw it. He tells me his allergies really acted up during this. Mine did too.

Rest

 Good morning!

        So, the blog is on autopilot a little this morning. I haven't been back long enough to feel comfortable just taking a day totally off but my shingle says I am enjoying the Spoon River Drive with some great friends today, so I am giving a quick devotional on remembering to take downtime. It seems like this past year, all the things that I considered downtime has been scarce. Perfect example, we normally go to Spoon River in October, and we couldn't. I will guarantee you, I worked that day instead of taking some down time. 

    I always love thinking about the fact that God created our whole world in six days and what did he do the seventh? He rested. Have you ever really thought about that? God is perfect. Does He really get tired? I don't think so. I think He rested the 7th day to show us that WE need that rest. 

So, I want to just quickly remind you that rest isn't a suggestion from God, it is a commandment. "Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed". Ex 23:12. God built us in a day off, I will admit, I am not good at taking down time, but I do remember to take a little time away from the stress of work and get some away time that I can breath. 

So, this is short, I hope you are finding your own down time this weekend, and while you do, maybe tell God thank you for building that into our lives. If you are going 90 miles an hour, I am going to suggest, from someone who has been there, done that, and goes 90 miles per hour all the time. You can get more done through the week if you find that downtime sometime every few days. 

So, REST, it really is an order, "-) 

I'm leaving you with, appropriately, Kari Jobe's Rest.