DILIGENCE

When culling my husband's desk files after his death, I came across many pocket calendars in which he kept track of his substitute teaching commitments. To me, they shouted the character quality of “diligence” in providing for our family. His elementary teaching career spanned fifty-five years, from college graduation to one year before his death at age 77. Nearly half of that was the high-paced calling of an elementary physical education teacher, the rest the challenges of substitute teaching. His “career change” within education came after we were nearly killed by a drunk driver. The trauma and stress of that accident mandated a lifestyle adjustment.

So what of the pocket calendars? When he turned to substitute teaching with its lower wages, he still had plenty of work. We'd always lived frugally, so managed. The “less-stress” was worth it. Some jobs came by the automated substitute calling system. Sometimes teachers called him directly. Other times, they'd catch him in the hall and say, “I want you for these days.” He'd whip out his pocket calendar and, if he wasn't already committed, they'd have their favorite sub.

To say he was popular would be understatement. He controlled his classes. He added fun to learning via a rolling suitcase full of games and rewards. For example, he boasted that he had special pencils only for students who were left-handed, like him. Of course, they were generic pencils—either hand—but it bonded those “lefties” to a beloved teacher.

If I could characterize his teaching life, I'd use the word “diligent.” In both sides of his career—the elementary p.e. teacher and the jack-of-all-trades (preferring elementary) substitute—he could be relied on to step in and keep a class going. Back at home, my work (besides freelance writing) was raising our two children to responsible (and academically stellar) adulthood, practicing frugality to help us live on one income, and helping care-give his ailing parents, whom we moved to a home next door to us. We were a team.

When his health started failing around age 75, and he had to phase out subbing, we were still a team. When I come across scriptures that commend diligence, I think of his example:

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. (Proverbs 13:4)

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. (Colossians 3:23)

One common thread in our backgrounds was the expectation that we would work once we reached adulthood. Before that, in childhood, we had chores that weren't fun but expected of us. Plus school was a priority. So was respecting parents and adults in our lives. (They practiced Proverbs 29:15!)That wasn't just a “parent command.” It represented the desire of God, speaking through the apostle Peter:

Make every effort to add to your faith goodness...knowledge... self-control... perseverance... godliness.. brotherly kindness... love. (1 Peter 1:5-7)

Peter added that developing these spiritual traits would keep us from being “ineffective and unproductive” in living for Christ (v. 8). Like those substitute assignments my husband wrote down in his pocket calendars, character development is a God-calling that takes diligence. Shirking it dishonors the Lord.

(1) Among websites about biblical diligence is this link: 20 Bible Verses on Diligence (adiligentheart.com)