Left-Over Comfort, The Solitude Chronicles: Day 6

Yesterday's meal was a spectacular hit. Everyone at home wanted more today. To the bean and quinoa dishes I added a mixed green salad seasoned with olive oil and garlic salt. The flavors mingled perfectly and yesterday's left-overs tasted even more delicious today. Maybe it's the fact that the work was already done. Reheat. Toss the salad. Voila! I felt like I deserved a trophy for thinking ahead and making lots extra.

It was warm, spicy, delicious comfort food. I could kick back and enjoy a certain satisfaction in my accomplishment. We all enjoy those moments in life when we can relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor. The perfectly waxed wood, the immaculate kitchen, the bathroom toilet you could eat out of if you weren't squeamish are all lovely things. Yet, these things require maintenance.

Sure the kids and I enjoyed left overs today. I washed the containers and dishes, put away the garlic salt and olive oil, and then contemplated what to do with that extra hour. I could waste it away in front of the television watching something that wouldn't bring much of anything to my life or I could do something else around the house and make myself even prouder of my accomplishments. Remembering the number of things that needed to get done, I put a load in the wash and started up another pot of spicy beans, pintos this time.

Proverbs 13:4 reminds us, "The lazy have strong desires but receive nothing; the appetite of the diligent is satisfied." I have some decent energy today. Though I have earned some rest, I'd rather reserve that for another time when I know I won't be so busy. It doesn't seem to make sense, huh? Well, I know that I'm going to be really busy tomorrow. If I want to eat well, and I do, I need to put my hands to work tonight even when I'd rather sit and do nothing at all. In that manner, I can also dedicate time to the things I enjoy this coming weekend.

The same is true of so many other areas of our lives. I have always been a chronic procrastinator. Forcing myself to break those habits has caused internal battles that are reminiscent of the angel and devil sitting on opposite shoulders arguing with each other until I decided to zap one out of existence. While I know that what I am taking care of tonight may require more than that extra hour, my appetite for spending time with friends, creating art, writing, and other more esoteric pursuits will then be satisfied later on this weekend. Working today will provide for left-over comfort tomorrow.

Yes, it seems contradictory. But part of overcoming solitude is learning to use the time I have wisely. It may not seem like I have enough to accomplish much tonight. But by breaking the work into chunks, I leave larger portions of time for the things in life that truly matter. It is a dichotomy that we cannot escape. Make your bed, lay in it. Wash your body, get dirty again. Eat a satisfying morsel, purge your system of the waste. We do the necessary to enjoy our lives and grow in healthy satisfaction of our accomplishments.

Therefore, tonight I'll leave you with one of my favorite scriptures. It has been used in songs, quoted and misquoted. You may not agree with it in it's entirety, but it speaks of the opposites that exist as realities in our lives, though not always positive. I pray the postive stands out in your life and that your time to live is abundant this year. Peace!

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13English Standard Version (ESV)

A Time for Everything

3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

The God-Given Task

9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.