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)

DO IT!

Diligence. That word came to mind when I saw this iron sculpture of spear-fishing in a park near the Columbia River in Washington. In days of long-ago, those who didn’t fish, didn’t eat. Fish was an important part of their diets! Actually, the apostle Paul said that, too: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). There’s both truth and common misinterpretation in that quote.

First, the “way off” stuff. Paul was writing a church that could hardly wait for Jesus to come back and start the new world order.  Some were so sure He was coming soon that they had quit their jobs or suspended their businesses to just “wait.”  They’d become “busybodies” with not enough Christ-worthy things to occupy their time and energy. They’d become a burden to the church, which felt it needed to support them—at least to feed them. 
Their inactivity was depleting the church resources, to no good. So Paul wrote, “Keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us” (2 Thess. 3:6). In other words, quit mooching.

He held himself, Silas and Timothy as examples. Even though they were traveling evangelists, when they landed somewhere for a while, they paid for their own food. They found what work they could—Paul likely in tent manufacturing.  They didn’t want to burden the church community with their support. More important, Paul said, “We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat’” (vv. 9-10).

My husband helps deliver donated potatoes to ministries that help the needy. They come from a generous grower about 40 miles away who donates multiple 50-pound sacks of spuds. When my husband pulls his loaded truck up to a ministry office, he’s very thankful when they send out people to help unload. It’s a big job for somebody who’s in his mid-seventies. In some cases, the unloading crew is people who are being helped by that ministry, like a shelter for homeless men. They may not be able to hold a for-wage job yet, but they are working as helpers for the shelter. The shelter’s ultimate goal is to move them out as responsible community members who can support themselves. Work has dignity and purpose.

I find the last chapter of 2 Thessalonians instructional, yet disturbing.  It’s very sad that Paul had to deal with lazy Christians. But it’s a reminder that every day should count for God.  Or, as Jesus expressed it in the Parable of the Ten Minas, don’t slough off in using the abilities God has given you.  “Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13 KJV).