Will write for food

Sometimes your bristles are up for a length of time. I'm less sensitive to it now because I've worked through my feelings after hearing so many attacks on how I use my time.

One of the most offensive experiences happened in front of a room full of strangers. I enrolled in a writing class because I wanted to hone my talents for observation. Besides, being in the same room with a bunch of creative people gets the juices flowing. However – this class was not what I'd hoped for, nor was the teacher gracious or encouraging.

In the first class, each person answered a few ice-breaker questions and talked about what they were interested in. I took the plunge, because I got some 'spiritual' vibes from the teacher, and stated my Faith. Gulp!

'Write what you know' was the beginning mantra. Well, what DID I know?? I was defining Home and still discovering myself. So, that's what I picked. I faithfully attended class, but my instructor harbored thinly-veiled hostilities. She banged the drum of active verbs and insisted I start my triteste with: 'I'm a wife; I don't work.'

“The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (2 Thes. 3:10).

I acquiesced because I've always trusted the Teacher more than myself. But, it felt like a Lie. And It was. But I no longer need to justify myself. I Do work – a lot. My status as a married woman does not change that. Even though I choose my compensation, my labor is not second-class.

Hourly v. Salary

I like the the mentality of hourly work; I like it's definite boundaries. Easier to define than salary, product-driven, or contract-work, wage work is less complicated.

Recently I heard a sermon on Ephesians 6:1-9 and I realized this teaching, along with another edict from Saint Paul (as follows), is fundamental to my work ethic. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving (Col. 3:23:24).

Since God sees everything I do, my fearful response is to work all the time, as if to Gain His Favor. I know that pace is unsustainable – I have limited focus and energy. I mush find balance between work and rest (daily and weekly). God modeled this for me by resting on the seventh day.

One challenge of working at home is that I always see the work that's unfinished – dishes in the sink, laundry in the hamper, dirt on the floor, piles of papers to be sorted. Even a consistent, conscious choice to look past those tasks only lasts so long. People need to eat! And while man does not live on bread alone, he does need bread.

God Rested 1/7^th of the time He Created. Could I use His scale for each day? (Maybe I should up the fraction, since I'm not All-Powerful.) One-sixth of each day allotted for work, not counting sleep time, because that would take more than its share while leaving me exhausted.

24 hours total = 8 hours sleep + 16 hours awake

2.67 hours for Resting...wow.

What counts as Resting?

Violence: Male v. Female

It's fascinating how deeply seeded the Male v. Female perspective is. I do not think I am sexist, but do acknowledge some inconsistencies in my attitudes toward members of each gender. 

[First of all, attitudes arise out of stereotypes, stereotypes out of generalizing, generalizing out of ignorance. When I don't take the time to know a person, it's easy to insert assumptions about them.]

The America I live in has taken much of its culture from Ancient Greece and Rome. Our calendar, our system of government, our mythology (as detailed by Mr. Wink, "Facing the Myth of Redemptive Violence").

Excerpt:

In the Babylonian myth ... violence is no problem. It is simply a primordial fact. ...Typically, a male war god residing in the sky fights a decisive battle with a female divine being, usually depicted as a monster or dragon, residing in the sea or abyss (the feminine element). Having vanquished the original enemy by war and murder, the victor fashions a cosmos from the monster’s corpse. Cosmic order requires the violent suppression of the feminine, and is mirrored in the social order by the subjection of women to men and people to ruler.

That last sentence blows me away. How insidious, the Lie that pits one part of humanity against the other, claiming to restore balance. Why can't the male war god and the female divine being get along? They don't reside in the same part of town. Why must it be either/or? It sounds like the Drive to Fix things can be Destructive. 

So - pair this cultural perspective with a Christian faith and you get - Confused. 

The biblical myth in Genesis 1 is diametrically opposed to all this (Genesis 1, it should be noted, was developed in Babylon during the Jewish captivity there as a direct rebuttal to the Babylonian myth). The Bible portrays a good God who creates a good creation. Chaos does not resist order. Good is prior to evil. Neither evil nor violence is part of the creation, but enter later, as a result of the first couple’s sin and the connivance of the serpent (Genesis 3). A basically good reality is thus corrupted by free decisions reached by creatures. In this far more complex and subtle explanation of the origins of things, violence emerges for the first time as a problem requiring solution.

Perhaps these two competing viewpoints play off each other when trying to interpret Scripture. For instance, the Apostle Peter extols readers to be gentle with the 'weaker partner' (1 Peter 3:7). His word choice leaves something to be desired. Would he change it if he saw what contention it has caused? It's true that women are (generally) weaker physically. Although men and women are created out of the same stuff, I think that is where most comparisons should stop. We both have bodies (although very different), feelings, active minds, needs, spirits...but comparing Apples to Pears is just not fair. 

But, back to my point - I agree that systems need a manager, nations need persons of authority, families need direction. However, the complete subjection of women to every whim and wish of men goes too far. Yet, even being a woman does not exempt me from being critical of Women, even objectifying them when encouraged to do so. 

Reading this article helped me to see through to the attitudes that have seeped into my unconscious. Realizing the ridiculousness of warring genders helps me see the dividing walls Satan builds. Once those walls are exposed, I see the Lies in contrast to the Truth: It is for Freedom that Messiah set you free (Gal. 5:1). Now, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28). So, Be Reconciled to each other as you are to God through The Prince of Peace's work on the Cross. Through Him we have access to the Father (Eph. 2), and can put off the Old and put on the New (Eph. 4:22).