In the beginning there was work and it was good. Man versus land. Man worked from sun-up to sundown and the land provided a bounty for him to live off of. Man prospered because of this land. He had an inborn need to provide, love and cherish and so he took a wife. A wife that was a suitable helpmeet to take all of his provision for her and put it to good use. To maintain the home he built, to store up and cook the food provided. Working together they soon felt prosperous enough to want to build a family. He and she still worked just as hard, but now had a place to shower their love and experience the joy of a new creation and it was good. The child was also taught to work, just at a slower pace, savoring the joys and curiosities of life. Inborn into this child was the belief that work was necessary for survival-the evidence was all around. Work equaled life. More children were born and the family prospered even more as the entire family worked together to nurture one another and also to be good stewards of all that they had. The workload was lightened and there was joy and love in the fellowship with one another.

I know that is a sort of Little House on the Prairie look at life but seriously, what has happened to us? America in the early days was a great place to live. My grandparetns were not far off from this Little House world. I know some of you city slickers are generations away from the good old days but I am only 2 away and so it saddens me to see what our civilization has evolved into.

The best sleep I ever have is the sleep I get after a good day of hard work. A day of working in the garden or yardwork, especially if my whole family is outside working together. I feel good and like everything is as it should be in the world. The problem? I don't have to. Two or three days of continuous work makes me tired and then I want to lay in the air conditioning and laugh at a TV show. I enjoy going to the market and buying produce someone else grew and spending my time on leisure instead. I long for the days of good hard work, but yet I am admittedly too lazy to want to do work in a world where it isn't required.

As I inventory where I am and where I am going, it amazes me how technology has brought our nation so far away from God and each other. We no longer rely on Him to provide for us through the land and therefore we have lost touch with Him. We no longer rely on ourselves either so we have lost touch with oursleves in many ways as well. We rely on one another in a very impersonal way which causes us to provide for one another in an almost resentful way. It is almost expected that people will both dislike their jobs and therefore all the people they come in contact with in a day. As a nation, we have lost our joy. AND quite frankly, I want it back. I want communities that love the Lord and each other.

Wouldn't it be nice if people spent less time judging one another and more time trying to understand each other. Taking the time to nurture and love one another. Everytime I have done that, it has turned out pretty good. On the flip side, every time I have passed judgement and not been loving, that has not turned out well and becomes a sore spot as I continue to cross paths with those I have injured with my judgement.

Maybe it is just because I am up at a ridiculously early hour because I woke up and could not go back to sleep. Maybe later I will re-read this and think I just needed to go back to bed. However, lately my need to re-evaluate my life and why I am here continues to show me that the path I am on, most Americans are on, is not a path to God or joy. It is a self pleasing, self seeking journey of greed. Wanting more, never being content. Sacrificing whatever we must to get that next purchase. Most often, we sacrifice our family life/time. We want better for our children. We want them to have cushy jobs and lots of money so we pour all of our energy into activities to make them "marketable". Do they feel the love or do they just feel busy? I am just as guilty as the next person. Some days I am pushing school so hard down the throats of my children that we all hate it, but I feel it must be done so that they can grow up "to amount to something". That makes me forget that now, in the present, they already do.