I'm pretty sore this morning. I spent about nine hours yesterday working on a continuing home improvement project. I've been replacing the ugly clamshell baseboards in our living room with some white colonial baseboards with shoe molding. I'm also trimming out the doorways, so that instead of just a drywall opening they have colonial molding. We've already done the dining room this way, and we just finished painting the living room. It all looks quite pretty - or will, once it gets painted and all the caulk and wood putty I used to fill in my errors get covered up. If you kin of squint when you look at it it looks pretty spiffy.
Last weekend, when I was on my knees pounding nails, I thought about how all of this work is for me. I'm working hard, and it is all to benefit my nice middle class existence. If I'm going to labor like this, shouldn't I be laboring for someone that doesn't have any baseboards? I could be doing this work for someone that needs it more desperately than I do. Of course, the work wouldn't be particularly fast or good-looking, but still.
I expressed this sentiment to my wife, and she wisely reminded me of what she always says: "Is God telling you to do that?" The idea is, the Spirit will tell me what I need to be doing, and I don't have to go running ahead trying to imagine what God's task list is for me.
It's a good question, and a way to keep me sane and to hold off the guilt that I seem to so often go looking for. But then I get thinking: how much am I listening? How much am I open to what the Spirit is asking of me? If He told me to go install some baseboards for someone else, wouldn't I just brush it off as a crazy notion, of work that I was unsuited for? Am I just fooling myself so that I can sit at home and watch FireFly some more?
How do you reconcile your middle class existence in the midst of the need of other people?
I cannot imagine that you (especially with Donna as your wife) would not do whatever God was calling you to do. Even if you missed Him, or blew Him off, PJ (which I don't think you truly would, though you may be afraid you would), Donna would be there as counterbalance. She is sensitive enough to Holy Spirit to be able to confirm His plans for you both.
ReplyDeleteAs to your question, "How do you reconcile your middle class existence in the midst of the need of other people?", I will ask my own questions. Are you being excessive in your remodeling, PJ? Are you trying to "keep up with [or outdistance] the Jones'"? Are you living beyond your means? Do you not have a responsibility to your family, as well? Does helping people in need mean you are expected to live in something you don't like the look of, just because other people don't have the wherewithal with which you have been blessed? Is your way of life at the expense of others? Have you prayed about practical ways to help others? Does feeling guilty about the blessings and gifts God has given you honor Him, or show your gratitude to Him? I'm just saying.
I love your tender heart, my brother. Ask God honest questions, be open to honest answers from Him, and be willing to obey whatever He calls you to do, but don't let the enemy condemn you for the blessings God has given you. I am certain that whatever God is calling you to do does not include receiving condemnation from the enemy. It is a fruitless exercise and a waste of your time. Or am I being too blunt?
Kathie:
ReplyDeleteNo.
No.
No.
Yes.
It could.
Yes, of course. If I and my family did not live at our current standard of living, we could give that money to people with so much less.
Yes.
No.
No. Condemnation is a waste of time. Not that this keeps me from doing it. However, periodically re-examining our guidelines for living is not a waste of time.
I totally agree, Peaj, periodically examining our guidelines for living is not a waste of time. It sounds like you do that, though. I hope you were not offended by my questions and that you understood my reasons for asking them. I was just playing devil's advocate (for serious lack of better terminology). If I did offend you, please forgive me, I hope you know I would never do so intentionally.
ReplyDeleteI love that you ask yourself that question, and I love that your wife is there to help you sort through your various responsibilities; to God, to your family, to yourself... Jason and I have many discussions along those lines- especially over the past year and a half. It's great to see that you are examining your life in light of God's calling- even while you are up to your elbows in a home-improvement project!
ReplyDeleteAs for your question, I honestly have a hard time reconciling my middle-class life in the midst of other people's needs. I feel like the more I spend time with people in need, the more I question whether or not I am doing all I can to help all of God's people. If I distance myself from people in need, I get anesthetized, and "need" ceases to be a real thing experienced by real people, but rather a concept to be discussed among those who are a little too well fed and a little too well educated...
kathie: how did i miss your comment? Sorry, I should have responded sooner.
ReplyDeleteMy terse response to your mostly rhetorical questions was just to reinforce that I mostly agreed with the expected answer. it wasn't meant to reflect any annoyance or offense on my part.
In short, we're good.