Ramblings from Retirement – Find Something to Do

Ramblings from Retirement – Find Something to Do

By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen

May 7, 2021

As I was sitting here today I was again thinking about my mother. It is interesting that even though I am 68 and my mother has been dead now for quite a few years I still think about her often. I do the same with my father as well. Anyway I realized that she would often quote things that she thought were biblical, like a lot of folks do, that in actuality are not at all. One was when she would find us moping around desperately trying to find “something to do” she would remark, “The Bible says that ‘idle hands are the Devil’s workshop” meaning that if we did not find something to do and fast we would soon be up to no good and she would find something for us to do. Never wanting the latter thing to happen we would quickly find something to do.

As I thought about my mother I was reminded of what Paul wrote the Thessalonians concerning hard work and idle hands: “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat.’ We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 NIV)”

Now for all of her faults my mother had some truly remarkable and grand attributes. One of them was that she was a hard worker. We kept a rather large garden that included all kinds of vegetables and grains including corn. My brother and I were in charge of the strawberries which we sold by the roadside and mom would make into jam.

In fact when the picking season progressed she would be found in a steam filled kitchen full of canning jars, jelly jars, fruits, vegetables, and other things canning to her heart’s content. We had a large root cellar where we kept the home canned goods and where she kept a big crock of sauerkraut fermenting. We would eat from her homemade larder for the whole year.

After we moved to Wenatchee she worked in an apple packing plant hand wrapping apples for international shipping. Later on after my father passed away she went to work in a nursing home in Bellevue, lifting, cleaning, and helping patients. It was tough backbreaking work but she went everyday and did her job well. My mother was never afraid of hard work and because of her actions all of us kids learned that hard work was nothing to be ashamed of.

Mom would remind us that the Bible states that “Hard work never hurt anyone.” Of course it does not say that but in fact it does share the truth that idle hands can turn into the Devil’s workshop and that hard work doesn’t hurt anyone who does it willingly for the Lord.

So today I will get up from writing this and go find something to do like clean the house, work in the garage, go out and work in my own vegetable garden. It is a great way to not give the Devil my idle hands. Perhaps you should find something to do as well?

This article is copyrighted © 2021 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.