My kids are happiest when they are working. Plain and simple. I’ve noticed it from the time they were itty bitty munchies. I can recall my Anja, at the age of no more than 4, rhythmically shuffling her way into my closet to put clothes away with her over-sized earphones engulfing her head, belting out the words to Abba’s “Dancing Queen”. She paused after putting the clothes away, smiled at me as she pulled the earphones away from her ears and exclaimed, “I love music!”
Yes, she did say she loved “music”, but at that time, me as a parent, I knew what she meant. She loved working. She loved that she had a specific purpose at that time. She loved that she had direction. She loved that she was accomplishing something, that she was being productive. She loved that she was part of a team with a purpose (as families should function) And yes, she did love that good music was pushing her along, I will not deny that.
That was years ago. However, just the other day, my two youngest children (7 & 4 years old) were hard at work washing windows. They had created a fair system of taking turns spaying and wiping. And while doing this, they had also, like Anja, found the rhythm of the music to dance along. They were happy, content, and at peace with each other, hard at work. Function, purpose, meaning, accomplishment, order, direction, unity, productivity – all words that result from hard work.
What do I learn from this?
- Music is awesome! 🙂
- Our souls divinely crave productivity and purpose. We must have worked very hard in our pre-mortal existence, because working hard now in the mortal existence reminds us of home. It is something our spirits tie to our time with our Heavenly Father.
- Families are divinely organized with purpose and function to help us feel closer to God, to remind us of His love for us. The unity and satisfaction we gain from working together as a family, to me (and to my children) feels so close to Heaven, like it’s right around the corner.
So grateful for His love!
