I’m excited to share this insightful post from Kristin Goodrich containing 4 Steps to Make Hard Work Easier.
4 Steps to Make Hard Work Easier!
Let’s Git ‘er Done!
by Kristin Goodrich
ALL HANDS ON DECK FOR THE WORK PARTY?!
Our military culture is full of contradictions and lingo! Just think of “mandatory fun,” and the not-optional-by-any-stretch-of-the-imagination “work party,” making it pretty easy to give NAVY the acronym of “Never Again Volunteer Yourself!”
Regularly at our house, we have “field days.” Not the kind where you play outside with friends and try to earn blue ribbons; rather the kind that means sorting through last season’s clothes, looking at piles of old papers, and deep cleaning the bathroom.
Hard Work vs. Easy Work
Recently, my Army friend Barb moved across town. Her friend, Fulya, and I spent most of the day unpacking all the kitchen boxes and putting everything away. As we chatted, Fulya and I found the work easy and satisfying. Barb, on the other hand, felt like she had avoided the hardest and worst part of her move: unpacking the kitchen.
4 Steps to make Hard Work Easier!
In his book, Making Room for Life: Trading Chaotic Lifestyles for Connected Relationships, Randy Frazee challenges us to look closely at the first chapter in the Bible, Genesis 1.
Start with a good night’s sleep.
After creating Day and Night, the first day was described as “there was evening and there was morning.” Even today, the Hebrew daily calendar starts with sunset, in contrast to our Western daily calendar starting with sunrise.
What if we would re-order our thinking and consider the previous night’s sleep to be the “start of the day.” I know that getting good sleep sets me up for twelve hours of productivity.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (Genesis 1:3-5)
Work hard during the day.
During the third through sixth days, God created plants, the heavens, animals, and man, all of which and whom he gave work to do, in abundance, according to their design. When work feels “hard,” I need to pause and pray that the Holy Spirit would clarify why the work feels hard. And then I need to take the “easy, not really that easy” step of obedience to do what God calls me to do.
3rd day – And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:11)
4th day – And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years. (Genesis 1:14)
5th day – And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” (Genesis 1:20)
6th day – Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)
Make time for relationships.
If we sleep for eight hours and work for twelve hours, then we have four hours left at the end of the evening-day cycle, according to Frazee. I know, I know. I can hear the military voices saying, “I get less than eight hours of sleep AND I have to work for more than twelve hours a day!”
Dare we ask ourselves what are we doing instead of sleeping – electronics, worry, caffeinated energy, or alcoholic buzz? Dare we ask ourselves what cutting back on work might mean – “lesser” achievement in man’s world, not seeming to have it “all together” whatever that looks like, or using work as a reason to avoid relationships needing our time and energy?
Each one of us living this military life can make small decisions to keep sleep, work, and relationships in balance.
Rest (also known as Taking a Sabbath)
After hiking 14.5 miles in under six hours at an elevation close to two miles above sea level, the sport tracker app informed us that our recovery time would be eight hours. Just like this new technology, the military recognizes the need for rest by at times offering mid-tour R&R, casual status around holidays, and four-day weekends.
7th day – So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:3)
Our bodies and our minds need time to rest. I love waking up to a solution for a thorny issue after a good night’s sleep! Giving myself time before and after our church/chapel services, as well as meeting with others during the week for prayer or Bible study, allows me to adjust my life navigational settings and headings.
May you be blessed beyond what you can ask or imagine as you sleep tight, work hard, and enjoy your relationships!
LIGHTS OUT IN ALL BERTHING COMPARTMENTS. MAINTAIN SILENCE ABOUT THE DECKS. GOODRICH OUT.
Prayer
Lord, I want to live my life within the rhythms you have designed throughout each day and each week. I need the Holy Spirit to lead me as I make decisions about sleep, work, and relationships. Thank you for the incredible creation and design for each woman in the military community! Amen.
Verses to Ponder:
- Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
- The fire will test what sort of work each one has done. (1 Corinthians 3:13b)
Additional Resources:
Visit our Resource Page for more on the topic of “work”.
Randy Frazee, Making Room for Life: Trading Chaotic Lifestyles for Connected Relationships. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003
All Scripture verses are quoted in the English Standard Version (ESV).
