Doing a Great Work

*Pictured here are Lillie, Sophia, Caroline, and Callie; June 2018 

It was a busy spring and summer of 2018, and weekends had been filled from what seemed like from March to June with no reprieve. It was so busy we had to schedule Sophia’s 18^th birthday party during lunch time on a Saturday. Between spring chorus concerts, ABAC’s end of the semester activities, I had not had any “down” time at the house with the only two children left – Matthew and Sophia. While Matthew was at ABAC with me, and he stilled lived at home, I rarely saw him. I mainly got to see him when he would swing by the office for a kiss, which in college lingo really means candy or money!

The last full weekend of June was free with no activities and my former husband was invited to go with the guys deep sea fishing, while I was invited to go with the ladies to the beach. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I just didn’t think I needed to go. I went on a work trip the week prior, and even though Sophia went with me, I felt I needed to stay home and have some quality time with her and Matthew.

Maybe it was the fact Matthew was about to leave for Georgia Tech in the fall or that Sophia was entering her senior year at high school, but there was something inside of me that told me time was fleeting. I knew she’d attend ABAC for one year after high school, but then her plans were to go to Georgia Highlands College in Rome, where they have a four-year dental hygiene program.

So, I decided to stay home. It was just me, Matthew and Sophia with no agenda for the weekend. And then my best friend from high school Cathy called and invited us to their family reunion in Valdosta. We’d been several years in the past and had a great time with the Sirmans’ clan. Sophia had spent a lot of time with Cathy’s nieces in the past, and Sophia was ecstatic to spend more time with Callie, Lillie and Caroline.

We headed south on I-75 singing to the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman. And when we sing, it’s not just with our voices. Our hands are raised, our bodies are dancing as best they can while being restrained by the seatbelt, and we are turning heads from other travelers as we journeyed to spend time at the lake.

All the girls and Matthew had a blast together jumping off the dock and catching up on what was happening in each other’s lives. I was proud of myself as I, at the age of 48, did back flips off the deck also! Cathy and I caught up on our lives, and I shared with her my marriage was struggling. Always a prayer warrior and non-judgmental person, I knew she would hold my confidence and give me Godly advice.

The kids and I traveled home going through the musical soundtrack again as we sang with wet hair and tired bodies.

The next day, the three of us went to church; Sophia sat in the middle, Matthew to her right and I sat to her left. Memories are fresh in my mind of how she reached out to both of us and placed her arms around us during the last song. I still have the bulletin from that day in my Bible.

Why would I remember such details to this seemingly irrelevant weekend? 

It was less than one week later that tragedy struck on the road while Sophia and I were safely biking. When a loved one is taken from you in front of your eyes, you replay the “last” of everything you did with that person - the last conversation, the last time we went somewhere, the last weekend, the last Sunday worship. 

In the Bible, Nehemiah 6:3 talks about when Nehemiah was finishing up the wall around Jerusalem, and his enemies were doing all they could to distract him and to get him off task. They said, “Come, let us meet together.” But Nehemiah said, “I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down for you?”

The word work in this verse stressed skilled labor. For Nehemiah, the skilled labor he was doing was carpentry and management as he oversaw this great rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. He had a task to do and had done it continually for months. He was told to build the wall, and he remained steadfast in his mission for the Lord. Nehemiah also discerned the insincerity of his enemies and refused to be distracted by matters that would divert his energy from rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall.

What is your great work? And are you actively doing it?

For me, my main job for 25 years was raising four children, and I did my best not to be distracted by the world.

I could have gone to the beach that weekend before my accident. I could have spent a weekend with the girls, and there is nothing wrong with a weekend away occasionally. But as we go about our main task, we have to be sensitive to the call of God and His gentle nudging. I knew I should not go that weekend, and there have been countless confirmations of that since then.

I wouldn’t trade singing The Greatest Showman with Sophia and Matthew that hot June Saturday. I wouldn’t trade anything to have her place her arms around me and Matthew during the last song of church that Sunday. And while I certainly wish I could change the outcome of our last bike ride, I would not trade spending time with her and living an active lifestyle with all my children.

The word work in Nehemiah 6:3 also has the connotation of “benefits that come as a result.” While my boys are far from perfect, they have loved me in ways I never imagined at this point in my life. Each one has been by my side through surgeries, made sure my medicines were correct, and took care of the simple things to help make my life easier. I would have envisioned them taking care of me when I was maybe 75, but never did I imagine they would be pushing me in a wheelchair at the age of 48 or helping me weigh the options on whether to amputate my leg or not.

Parents, I encourage you this Christmas season not to be too busy to spend quality time with your family. Maybe you need a day where you stay in your pajamas and make cookies and wrap gifts with your children. Maybe you need to sit on the floor and play that board game your child loves, but you, much like the Grinch, loathe! (Chutes and Ladders was mine!)

Focus on your great work. Know that while the rewards may be delayed, they will come.

We all have a great work to do. What is your work? Will you be focused enough not to be distracted by those around you and do that task at hand? Your reward will be there, and it may just come earlier than you had imagined.

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