Before I planted my garden this summer, I read a book about homesteading. No, I’m not becoming a farmer. Frankly, my husband and I are too old for a new venture like that. Initially I wanted to learn about ways in which I could apply some of the homesteading concepts right here in the suburbs; the book spent quite a bit of time laying out a sort of philosophy of home, family, and work before explaining how to implement its ideas. Modern homesteading is the intentional shifting of one’s life to center around the economy of the home, to be more self-sufficient and sustainable, often but not always, in conjunction with growing your own food and raising your own animals. The thing that pulled at my heart was thinking about how urbanization and industry have had the unintentional consequences of moving us away from our homes. For most people, “going to work” each day means leaving our homes and traveling to another location. Think about that for a minute with me and imagine all the things we do in a day that are because we must go work somewhere else. We pack a lunch, we get kids ready, we take kids to school or daycare, we drive or ride to the location of our job, and we have to spend time in the evening getting ready to do it all over again the next day. This of course comes with extra costs too–gas, work clothes, childcare, lunches out with co-workers.
Not only has our “work” shifted away from home, but so has our “play.” My parents’ generation would have had no concept of a childhood that was made up of extra-curricular activities such as traveling soccer teams or ballet practice multiple days each week. Now we have to be sure to plan time for “family game night” because our calendars are so full of activities outside of the home. Many families don’t even eat meals at the table together; they eat them in the van on the way to the next hockey game or wrestling match.
These are not necessarily bad things, in and of themselves. My son was on a swim team and my daughter danced in a pre-professional dance company. They learned many valuable lessons in addition to staying physically active; I sometimes wonder at what expense. It’s undeniable that our culture spends far more time away from home than in our homes. Home is more like a place to lay our heads rather than a headquarters for our lives and a refuge for our hearts. The time that this shift in family life has stolen from us also greatly affects our abilities to serve others. Many families are barely squeezing all these things into their schedules; they certainly don’t have time to regularly help an elderly neighbor with her yard or mentor a young family in need.
Now that I am an empty-nester, I’m often surprised at how much extra time I have. I am also home a lot more. I feel less rushed, less pulled in different directions. All this extra time has helped me to see more clearly the devastating consequences of falling into the worldly trap of being too busy.
Looking back at James 1:27 as we did in a previous post, let’s consider how all this busyness has impacted our spiritual lives. Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world. Usually when we hear that last part, “to keep oneself unstained by the world,” we think in general terms of sin. We know that our sins are said to be like scarlet (Isaiah 1:18) in contrast to the pure and sinless life of Christ. But why does James write about the stain of sin, of worldliness, in the same sentence as caring for widows and orphans? Look at the contrast he’s making. Being stained by the world is contrasted with the purity of a faith that lives out the gospel as it cares for the weak and vulnerable.
Some translations render the phrase, “to care for orphans and widows” as “to visit orphans and widows.” Those seem like two different ideas, don’t they? Until you see the same Greek word used here: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people.” (Luke 1:68) That implies so much more than a simple, drop-in-and visit-with-my-next-door-neighbor type of visit. The Greek word means “to visit, investigate, to supervise, to oversee, have regard for, to examine closely, and to invest in.”
I’m just going to say it. That means more than going Christmas caroling at the nursing home once a year. It means more than sending a check to an orphan in Haiti for a birthday gift. It means more than dropping off some clothes at Goodwill or donating canned goods to the church’s food pantry. Again, these are all good things. Don’t stop doing them. But can we do more?
Let me connect the dots. We’re so busy that we don’t have the kind of time it takes to really invest in someone else’s life. We’ve let the worldly force that pulls us away from a simple life at home like a giant magnet and toward a chaotically full schedule stain and defile us. Christian, does your calendar look any different from your non-Christian friends’? We often hear preachers ask if our budget looks different from an unbeliever’s, but what about our schedule?
Let me very clear: I am not condemning women who work outside the home or men who work multiple jobs to make ends meet. I am not condemning sports or music lessons or any other extra-curricular activities. What I am saying is that I had not previously considered how the change in society–the shift from a home-based family economy to an outside family economy–has impacted us. I am also not saying we all need to move to a farm, raise our own vegetables and start a home-based business. Every family must rely on the Spirit to help guide them as to how to structure their lives. But I am gently suggesting that sometimes Christians do not recognize the impact of these choices, and we just go along with what the cultural norm is. Every person and every family unit must discern how to live in the world but not be of the world.
Remember that one of my goals here at Shade Tree Stories is to take some time to sit together and ponder ideas. I always want readers to feel like I’m inviting them to grab a lawn chair, have a glass of sweet tea, and talk about life. I think another consequence of our busy lives is that we don’t have the time to be still and consider different concepts and philosophies. So I hope in the time it’s taken you to read this that I’ve given you something to think about.
You can find the book I mentioned here. *This is an affiliate link so I may receive a small commission if you purchase this book.
The articles I read that also contributed to my thoughts on this:
https://127worldwide.org/are-you-living-a-james-127-lifestyle/
https://lifesong.org/2021/01/james-127-jason-johnson/
