I’m no quitter. Ask anyone who knows me. For one, it’s well-past my bedtime… and yet the idea has come to mind to write this post and so here I am. I could wait until tomorrow, but I’m no quitter. I do not comprehend the statement “I just couldn’t do it” and my thoughts do not resonate with the phrase “I’m too busy.” The stories my mother could tell of me not being a quitter…well, I’m a chip off the ol’ block if we’re going to be telling stories. I do not quit.
And yet I’ve not written a post recently…had a few ideas brewing, but nothing concrete. And frankly, there were just too many other things that I was having to stay on top of. I had some days off which included me staying up later than anyone else doing left-over work. Don’t forget these other projects I have possibly foolishly taken on. And please please please don’t look in my closet…that’s a project I’ve been waiting to work on for 2 years.
The last few days I’ve been going back through a devotional book, and this day particularly talked about ‘temperance.’ “The inhabitants of our earth are depreciating in mental, moral, and physical power, because of the intemperate habits of society. Appetite, passion, and love of display are carrying the multitudes into the greatest excesses and extravagance….The people of God must take an opposite course from the world…. ‘And to temperance, patience.’ The need of becoming temperate is made manifest as we try to take this step. It is next to an impossibility for an intemperate person to be patient….. Some of us have a nervous temperament, and are naturally as quick as a flash to think and to act; but let no one think that he cannot learn to become patient…. Patience pours the balm of peace and love into the experiences of the home life….” Ellen G. White.
Let’s go back to one of the ‘ideas’ that I mentioned were brewing. I’d read a commentary about Noah. Wow wow wow, what a man. While evil prevailed, he and his wife were steadfast. After being given instruction by God to build an ark for an unfounded promise of a flood, he put everything he had into building this monstrosity. He put in all his strength, all his time, all his finances…this WAS his retirement. He had three boys during this time, they were raised knowing their dad only in this mindset, sometimes being his only helpers. Still Noah worked.
Noah’s wife…what do we know about her? She was true to her knowledge of God and her relationship to her husband. She is merely an undercurrent in the Bible, and yet…she is possibly one of the most powerful statements for being temperate. How do you figure? What of you women would not be publicly defending your husband after he is ridiculed day in and day out on a project for God? How many of you women would quietly support your spouse even though he was spending all his time working on a ‘project from God’, ensuring you would not have anything in the end to show for all of this other than that very ‘project’? How many of you would tirelessly raise three sons yourself until they were old enough to help their father, and give them over to the same bullying and ridicule that their father must endure? How many would endlessly work to prepare for the storage of food and feeding of unknown animals and persons who may go upon the ark when told to? How many would not try to rush the project, would not make her husband feel guilty for not spending time with her? How many would follow their spouse into that ark, and wait in what felt like a tomb until God allowed the top to be removed and eventually the door to open? How many would start all over again 120 years older…with nothing?
And yet you never hear of Mrs. Noah; she is not mentioned in the Faith chapter. But she was a woman who knew how to balance her life possibly more than any woman in history. She didn’t waste time arguing frivolously, getting defensive, worrying, helicopter parenting, lazing about, whining, planning what to do when the doors did open….. Now I’m putting ideas and ‘words’ in her mouth….but I cannot help but feel she knew, she knew, that to be used by God in a mighty way to save His people, she must be the master at quitting. Quitting what was unnecessary.
Now mind you, she DID NOT quit on what God had in mind for her…of this I am convinced. Why? Because you and I are here today. Noah did not have the time and energy to handle his job AND what he needed her to do. She was his help-meet. And she did not shirk her responsibilities. But, she knew she had to let go of some things in order to apply herself to others.
We think of being temperate regarding food and drink and bad habits; but let’s not forget that it is also time and to-do lists and wishes. My husband and I jokingly found several opportunities to remind others to prioritize ‘wants’ versus ‘needs.’ This week, as the ‘idea’ and the devotional and the cumulative overwhelming responsibilities washed over me…the Spirit nudged me and I felt it all come together. I may have a lot of jobs, ones which God has directed me to do. And if it is so, then He will give me the strength and know-how. I’m not to worry. I’m not to allow myself to become overburdened by the thoughts of all those ideas.
I’m just going to say it. You can not have it all. No one does, do not fool yourself. And even if they did, they are not you. It is NOT fair. Why do some people get to be King David and Queen Esther and others get to be…Mrs Noah. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says “Whatsoever your hand finds to do [what God places in your hands], do it with all your might.” (my own emphasis supplied.) God never meant us to compare ourselves with anyone else. God did NOT need a Queen Esther to walk up to Noah and say “So help me Noah, we must be strong and stand up to these bullies, and if I perish, I perish.” (And you all know I love Queen Esther). But in this instance God needed a Mrs. Noah. Steady. Unwavering. Quiet. Never mentioned.
I need to quit already, quit giving my time and my self over to my overwhelming thoughts….and trustingly follow the ideas that God has for me instead.
