Duty & Delight

It doesn’t take long before a sense of duty takes over, and drudge kicks in, and delight is nowhere to be found.

Caregiving of any kind can be hard work, be it tending a garden, raising a child, cultivating community, or caring for the chronically ill. The tasks of tending can become tedious, and if we’re not careful, our sense of duty can overtake a spirit of delight.

Perhaps that’s why I’m so drawn to God’s words, through the prophet Isaiah, as he exclaims, (concerning a vineyard he’s tending, and clearly over-the-moon about), “There’s something to sing about!!”

I can sense God’s pride and joy as the Scriptures go on to describe a fine vineyard, a vineyard God waters, keeps careful watch over, and wishes well and whole (Isaiah 27:2-5 Message).

But then, as I read on, I sense my own disappointment. For I read that this very vineyard, delighted over and diligently tended, bears, among other things, briars and brambles, thistles and thorns. And I think, this should not be! All that careful care, and this is what it yields?

I’m frustrated and angry now. Not so much for God’s sake, but over my own experiences of the same, and the unfairness I feel.

Even when we cultivate with care, thorns and thistles happen. This is a challenge for me. It can frustrate me, or make me want to throw my hands up in resignation and stop doing all the hard work with people or in creative pursuits - with whoever or whatever I’m tending (myself very much included). This doesn’t appear to happen to God. God seems more chill than me.

“Even if it gives me thistles and thornbushes, I’ll just pull them out,” God says.

He simply deals with them. They happen. They’re not the whole garden. Don’t get so uptight. Don’t lose your delight.

Friend, they are not the whole garden. This is what I want to say. This is what I need to hear! It is still a fine vineyard, a fruitful vineyard, a vineyard beloved and lovely. Don’t burn the whole thing down.

The briars and brambles can sometimes steal all my time and attention as I literally get lost in the weeds. It doesn’t take long before a sense of duty takes over, and drudge kicks in, and delight is nowhere to be found. This, of course, can happen in caregiving or cultivating of any kind.

A facilitator recently asked a group of us caregivers if our service comes from a place of desire or obligation. It makes a big difference, she said, in both sustainability as well as in how it is received.

May we (may I!) hang up any grumpy gardener hats we have, and tend what is ours as God does - with diligent duty, yes, but also from a place of desire and with a deep felt sense of overarching delight.

Duty & Delight: Our Little Life Words of the week.

If this met you in a meaningful way, please consider supporting my words and work in the world! Thank you kindly!

DEEPER DIVE

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Ponder: 

If duty and delight could have a conversation with each other, what might they have to say?

Practice:

Each day look for and name one thing you delight in about that which you are cultivating or those for whom you are caring.

Play:

The song we’re playing this week is: Count on Me by Bruno Mars.

Pray:

Help me to do my duty with a spirit of delight.