HARD WORK PAYS!

HARD WORK PAYS!

In recent times,  I have found myself watching quite a few children’s animated programmes.  There are some that have made me wonder if the original intention of the creator was to make them for adults. There are always lessons to be learnt. A particular one that got me thinking was about three little pigs and the big bad wolf. As funny as it was to my son, a very important lesson was also taught. Here is the story. One pig built with hay, a second pig built with sticks and the third pig built with bricks. We were told  that the third pig knew a house of bricks would not fall and so the extra work that he needed to do, did not bother him at all. Then appears Mr. Wolf, who came to have the pigs for din – dins!  It took him no effort at all to blow down the structures of  hay and sticks. All he gave was a huff and a puff and they came crashing down. However, the house of bricks refused to budge when the wolf came huffing and puffing. The programme ended by saying “a hard-worked job wouldn’t fall to a huff or a puff at all.”

“Hard work” is very important. And should be encouraged.  It must never be underestimated or discarded. The third pig was confident that because he had worked hard in building that structure it would not fall. What are we working hard at? The word of God says: “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” 2 Thesssalonians 3:10 KJV So we know there is a global pandemic but it should not be the reason why we should sleep or laze the days away. People I know have gotten new jobs and appointments in this period, people are signing new contracts and so many more are bringing forth that which had been sleeping on the inside of them. What are you doing, dear one? A lot of us have so much buried in us and we have not yet begun to look inside of ourselves to make amazing discoveries of who we truly are or what we are capable of doing.  What is that thing that you so lovingly,  willingly and passionately do even when no one is cheering you on or paying you to do it? Perhaps that is a clue to your side hustle or even your main assignment; you never know. But what ever we are doing in this season, let it not be idleness. That can only lead to disaster. Anyways when we work hard we are doing the will of God.  “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;….” Ecclesiastes  9:10a KJV

Let us not wait until the all clear for COVID 19 to get busy; Get busy Now! Opportunities abound even while staying at home. Yes, indeed! “If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything.” Ecclesiastes 11: 4 Good News Translation And while you are it, if you get more than one idea, AWESOME!. “Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both.” Ecclesiastes 11:6 NLT  The action of planting seeds presupposes that one is not idle. So this is definitely not the time to be found doing nothing. Who knows; if it is the work we start doing now that will give us the financial freedom we have been chasing after? Write that novel, mentor the next generation, give online cooking classes, design an outfit for yourself you will be surprised how beautiful it will look! Read that (auto)biography you have been meaning to and take those courses. Doing any , some or all the above, if you can manage it, is better than being fixated on COVID 19 news updates on the hour every hour. The news will wear you out and create all kinds of emotional turmoil that you can do without.

Take time now, think deep, and as we have been asked to let us stay indoors and look inwards too; there is a lot there. God put so much in us. And as we find the buried treasure, my prayer is that God will make ways for us even in this COVID 19 wilderness and give us streams of living waters too. “Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.” Isaiah  66:9 KJV If God gives us the idea, He will see us all the way through.   He will not leave us half way.  He will let us birth it.

Let us get busy knowing that “In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.” Proverbs  14:23 KJV 

OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS ©