The Winter of my Discontent

"I'm so busy with life, that I'm forgetting to live." - These words rose up in my heart a few days ago.

I feel like I'm in a slump. I'm very dissatisfied. It's not that I'm not appreciative of all I have. I thank God for everything. And I literally mean everything. This morning I thanked God for the warm shower I was taking.  I'm greatful... but I'm still in a state of deep discontent. I don't want to feel this way. I just feel like I was made for something other than this. I think we all are. I don't think we were meant to go to work and be away from our families all day - most of the time just doing it for the paycheck. Most of us don't work where we do because we love it, but because we need money to survive. This just doesn't feel right. I feel so unfulfilled.

The bible says the sabbath was made for the man, not man for the sabbath. Well, this may not be related, but it's what comes to mind. Work was made for me, not me for work. Work is, or should be, a way to holiness; a way to help us become better people through the discipline necessary for a job well done; something that unites families as they work together for eachother; a way for parents to teach their children a strong work ethic and pass down skills that can offer a service to others - while at the same time passing on their faith in God. Work and God should not be separate. As a matter of fact, God should not be separated from anything. God should not be compartmentalized. He should be a part of every aspect of our lives and if we are to fulfill our purpose in work, God must be included in that as well.

I feel as if everything in this "modern" world is designed to tear families apart, consume all our time and distract us so we don't have time for the things that really matter. God, family and country.

This includes educating our children outside of the home. I'm a big homeschool advocate. The words of Woodrow Wilson come to mind. "Our problem is not merely to help the students to adjust themselves to world life. Our problem is to make them as unlike their fathers as we can." That is exactly what our education system does. With children out of the house and away from their families for hours at a time, they are taught that the values which their parents hold dear are old-fashioned. They should be disregarded because, after all, children are much smarter than their parents. As Al Gore said, “There are some things about our world that you know that older people don’t know.” Since the Progressive Era began, our children have been taken out of the care of their parents and put into the hands of "teachers" who are really just there to indoctrinate and not educate.

Society is falling apart. The breakdown of society has been a problem for decades and some still don't see it... much less would they be aware that the root of the problems in society are the problems in the family. God did not give me my daughter so I could send her away all day, every day, while I go slave away at a job that doesn't inspire or fulfill me, to then come home so tired that I can't even enjoy my time with her. This just doesn't seem right.

So I guess this is where I am right now. This is the winter of my discontent. Society is headed toward a downward spiral because families are the basis of society and our basis is crumbling. If more of our families would set their foot upon the rock, the foundation, the Church... GOD... maybe we could turn this thing around. And the end of it all, I guess what I'm saying is that God is the answer to all of societies ails.