Skip to main content

No Slavery Allowed

                 And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many, therefore, let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”

There were also some who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children, and indeed we are forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.” (Nehemiah 5:1-5)

 

The parallel I’m going to present isn’t exact, but when one is pursuing goals, sometimes the focus becomes so closely associated with reaching those goals that the preferences, desires, and needs of others get ignored. Those around us become slaves to our hopes and dreams far beyond what is reasonable. I’m reminded of the character in Bleak House, Mrs. Jellyby, who was so involved in raising money to send to mission work in Africa that she didn’t notice that her children were suffering from neglect. The stereotype is that when someone goes on a diet, the whole household is forced onto the diet. I don’t think I was ever quite that bad, but more than once, I told my father that if he wanted ice cream, to get a flavor he liked but I didn’t.

As we consider goals for 2022, we should be careful that our goals don’t enslave the whole household or go beyond what the members of the household have agreed to. It might be acceptable to ask them to forego some of what they enjoy, but never all of what they enjoy, and ever any of what they need.

Similarly, when we strive to accomplish our goals, there are other parts of our lives that may have to accept a lower priority. The challenge is to find ways to meet the needs of those parts. They may not be the most important thing in your life, but ignoring their needs leads to burn out.

I tend to have two modes – long-hauler and 30-second time-limit. I worked on family history for 20 years. I eat basically the same breakfast, the same lunch, and sometimes for dinner for months or years. But if the switch that engages the long-haul doesn’t get flipped, I have no patience, no tolerance, no endurance. Sometimes, it’s sometimes easy to shut down everything but the goal. Other times, it’s impossible, and I’m convinced that’s at least partly because the rest of me is exhausted.

One of our goals as we strive to achieve our goals should be to learn to do it with love for God, for our neighbors, family, and friends, and for ourselves.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more