Tag Archives: Work Hard

The Grace

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As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.—1 Peter 4:10-11

The other day a friend told me this: “There is no way for anyone who hangs around you to have any excuse for not getting done what they need to get done. You are so productive.” She is continually amazed at my daily activities of spending time with God, caring for my home and three boys full time, blogging three days a week, discipling five women and counseling countless others, meeting freelance writing deadlines and hanging with my husband and sometimes pampering myself. She is amazed. No, I am amazed, not at me but at the power through me. I clearly understand that what I do is because of God’s grace and understood this to a greater degree when I stopped blogging last month. Continue reading →

Tough Mrs. Tate

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“Shut up over there.” This was a frequent command that bellowed from a gravelly voice that always seemed coated with phlegm. Immediately, cackling boys and girls hushed and wondered how the finger of Mrs. Tate, my cocked-eyed 60-something 6th grade teacher standing at the chalkboard, always landed exactly on the culprit. We never thought she could see us so most took advantage of her crooked eye. She was just too smart for us, would catch the motor mouths every time and remind the slow ones they still had work to do.

“You dumber than dirt, sister (brother). You dumber than dirt,” she would say when a student couldn’t answer what she thought was an easy question. And don’t try to tell her why you didn’t know the answer, have your homework or complete your class work. She’d tell you about excuses.

“Excuses! Excuses only earn you one grade, and that’s the letter excuse begins with.”

Mrs. Tate was tough and quite unconventional in her motivation, but somehow her ways inspired me. Her class would be the only time I received straight A’s even though she ostracized me to
“motivate” others. She configured the classroom with two sets of student desks facing each other from opposite sides of the room. She placed me at a teacher desk in the middle of the other desks, on display for all to see. I was in a reading group by myself. The other students had assignments while Mrs. Tate worked with me one-on-one. And she would always use me as the example of what the other students should strive to be. Somehow, I had friends, and I thank God for them, Elmira Bell and Yolanda Gibson, chief among them who would defend me and keep the haters off my back. They made my girl in a bubble experience bearable.

Though I can’t remember anything kind Mrs. Tate ever said, she taught me how to persevere in the face of adversity. I didn’t want her calling me names or the students getting the satisfaction of me doing less than my best so I pushed myself to never give up. I’ve always been determined, but Mrs. Tate tested my ability to be steadfast. Even still, I am ever grateful for her twisted love. For this, Mrs. Tate is one of my sheroes.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

A Significant Reputation

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    “. . .(A)nd let her works praise her in the gates” (Proverbs 31:31).

Some days are ponder days, and this weekend I had one of those days. As I thought about my accomplishments in comparison to what I still have yet to do, I lamented a bit. My ministry has not had the far-reaching impact that I expected. And as I thought about not having a broader audience like some of my secular counterparts, I heard the Lord say, “You want success and not significance.” Immediately I received the correction. The impact I wanted came with fame; the impact that is necessary comes with a making a positive difference.

Some months ago I learned a good deal about the difference between success and significance. My pastor, Christopher W. Brooks, preached a message on this, warning Christians that our lives should not be about seeking fame and being successful according to the world’s standard of obtaining money and material items and being well-known; we must be about changing lives for Christ’s sake, starting within our own homes.

This was the success of the Proverbs 31 woman. She took care of her husband, children and maids. Because she looked “well to the ways of her household” and was a hard worker, she had a good reputation; her work taking care of her home—a small audience—garnered her praise in her hometown. As I reviewed Pastor Brooks’ message, I understood more what God was telling me: I didn’t want what I already had; I wanted what someone else had. And what I have is significance because I am making a positive influence in the lives of those in my sphere, the gates that He has me within.

I’m not saying that we should shun money, material items or popularity. But our emphasis should be on accomplishing the goals God has given to us, and these goals always start with taking care of home. This is the greatest area of significance. This gives you a good reputation.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith

Work It Right

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Right before Halloween I saw a woman at Target that I used to work with. She looked a bit harried. No, she looked downright frazzled and worn. I asked how she was doing, and she gave me the obligatory “fine” before going into why she was at the store and rushing to get out:

“Girl, yeah I still work there. Um, hum,” she said as she pierced her lips and rolled her eyes. “I have four kids, so going to work is a break for me, though. I’m at Target to get Halloween costumes. They have costumes for Trick or Treating, for a party at school and one of them has a birthday party that I had to get a costume and a gift for. Yeah, girl. When I get home, they be wanting to climb on me and get hugs and help with homework. I say, ‘Ask your daddy. Shoot. I’ve been working all day.’”

“All right, girl. I’ll see you later. God bless you, okay?”

“All right, Rhonda. See you later.”

And I hope to see her later to tell her, “That ain’t right. It ain’t right that you are 1) working a job to get away from your kids; 2) working hard to get your kids multiple Halloween costumes; 3) working hard to shun your children’s affection; and 4) working hard to avoid helping your kids with homework. It just ain’t right. This is not the working hard that a mother should do.” Many of us are hard workers, working hard at the wrong things and not having the energy to work hard at the right things, like cleaning our homes, nurturing our husbands and children, and being a reliable and trustworthy friend. This just ain’t right!

The best question to ask is “Is what I’m choosing to do most beneficial for what God has called me to do?” This was the question that stood out in my mind when I had to make the decision about feeding and educating my first child. It was breast milk v. formula and home school v. public school. I had good reason to choose formula over breast milk because Joshua could not latch on. And every indicator pointed to God guiding me to home school my attention craved child. I chose to express my breast milk so Joshua could have the best food available to him and to home school though I felt ill-equipped and non-desirous.

On many occasions I felt like my old colleague. In fact, I would say about Joshua’s clinginess, “He didn’t get the memo. The (umbilical) cord has been cut!” In my flesh I didn’t want to express milk and THEN have to feed my baby or homeschool. Using formula and sending Josh to school would have been more convenient for me. But I knew breast milk and home school would be best for him so I worked hard to give him both. We all must decide what’s most beneficial in order to accomplish what God has called us to do and not what we want to do. Working hard ain’t easy, but doing so for the right things saves a lot of time and energy and truly pleases the Lord.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith

Lead & Follow Hard

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If you think it’s hard thinking about working hard so you can be pure and blameless upon Jesus’ return, try thinking about Jesus while engaged in everyday responsibilities. I’m not talking about the old cliché “What Would Jesus Do?” I’m talking about the Scriptures that command what your standard behavior should be when you work for and supervise others.

Servants, obey in all things [your] masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: And whatsoever ye do, do [it] heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons (Colossians 3:22-25).

A similar scripture passage in Ephesians (6:9) includes how masters should treat their servants, but I want to revisit the scripture that I used in my last entry:

Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, [and] look well to thy herds (Proverbs 27:23).

We see that whether you are working for someone or supervising someone, you are commanded to be selfless. Yes, there are great personal benefits for working hard, as we saw last time, but these scriptures show that keeping others in mind should be our focus: our supervisors, our subordinates and, above all, Jesus to help us do the right thing with both groups.

So the next time you want to sigh about your boss’ request, ask yourself would you sigh at Jesus. Or when you want to just sit your ADD son in front of the television instead of engaging him in a calming activity so you can have time to yourself, ask yourself 1) is watching TV doing him (or you) any good and 2) would you leave Jesus to Himself while you took care of personal pleasures.

What we see is that the Bible considers a hard worker as one who works at things they desire to do AND one who works hard to do the right thing even when they don’t want to (1 Peter 2:13-19). Working hard to please God and not man (even you) is the righteous standard. This is not always easy, but because God requires it and has given us His Holy Spirit, His requirement is more than fair; in actuality it should be a cinch. I don’t know about you, but I had to say ‘ouch’ to that.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith