“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Thomas Edison.
I have never seen this played out better than in the backyard of our old duplex apartment. I was playing on our swing set and my dad needed some help rolling up his electrical cords. At that time, he kept all of his sound and keyboard equipment in the backyard shed.
I was eager to help, but I made such a tangled mess trying to figure out how to roll it up correctly. My dad saw me, obviously, and he very patiently said, “Sis, let me teach you how to roll up that cord.” He had his work cut out for him as he untwisted and unwound all the kinks and weird loops I had put in it.
As he was standing there, rolling the cord up, from shoulder to elbow, He showed me how to unwind the loops that were going the wrong way and how to make them go the right direction.
He told me I would have to train a cord to roll up correctly; It would take a little longer, but the cord would last as long as I needed it to. On the other hand, if I didn’t learn how to roll it up right, it would just become a jumbled mess and over time it would short out when plugged in; Then new ones would have to be purchased.
I see this lesson play out all the time in life. Taking short cuts or ignoring responsibility in our own personal lives will cause kinks to develop in the cords of life. Short cuts are the nearest cousin to laziness. At first it doesn’t matter much, after all, the cord still produces power, but eventually a short will occur, making it more costly in the long run.
In our house we have a few basic rules, as do most families. One of which includes hard work. Eva knows hard work produces great rewards of playtime. She knows making the bed and helping with household chores (that she can do) are a part of being in this family. It is in the seemingly mundane activities and chores of our everyday life that build success.
Joyce Meyer said, “It is not the things that we do once that will bring the victory but the things that we do over and over again.”
There is a great “feel good” feeling that comes from hard work. Nothing else will produce it. We tell Eva, as Andy Griffith said to Opie, “Shoot for the good feeling.”
The other day a big storm came through our area and several branches had fallen down on our property. I decided it was a job I could handle easily and would alleviate Chuck from having to do it when he got home from work. So, I put on my boots and gloves and headed across the creek to start clearing. I looked behind me and Eva was trailing me with her boots on and gloves in hand. I had not even required it this time. She had been riding her bike and I was going to let her enjoy, but it made my heart swell when I heard her say, “Mommy, we do our work first then we can play.” She was a big help to me that day.
I love to hear my mother quote a section of a proverb that so eloquently depicts how a lazy man views today. I think of it every time a lazy thought tries to cross my mind. It goes like this…
“I went by the field of a lazy man, and by the vineyard of a man devoid of understanding; And there it was, all overgrown with thorns. Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; So shall your poverty come like a prowler and your need like an armed man.” Proverbs 24:30-34
The lesson in the electrical cord is simple; We can go as far in life as we allow discipline to keep us.
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“Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all of your might.” Ecclesiastes 9:10
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