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Weary in Well Doing

Sheila Campbell

     It is spring, and like my children, I too, have spring fever. As I look out the window, I find the work that needs to be done outside is much more appealing than the lessons that still need to be completed. After a
long, busy weekend, it is difficult for us to concentrate on schoolwork, and I am impatient and short with my children. I am tired of school. However, as I snap a frustrated, impatient, reply to a question, I am reminded of another time when I was tired and weary and longed for a break. The season and the circumstances were different, but my attitude was much the same as it was that day.
     One winter we received several inches of snow just after Christmas. The first days of the snow were joyous; the hazy winter sky and the snow-covered yard were beautiful, and being snowed in gave us some much-needed family time. It had been a very hectic and busy fall season, and I felt we needed some leisure time, so school was out for the week.

     But several days without anyone to help with Justin soon began to wear on me. He was fifteen and weighed over 100 lbs, and transferring him was no longer an easy task. I was in the middle of feeding him lunch, and he needed out of his wheelchair for a few minutes.

     Oh, Justin, not now,” I groaned. For a moment I was angry with him, although it was not his fault. “Now it will take me twenty minutes longer to finish lunch,” I thought, as I pushed the wheelchair toward the bedroom, “plus two more transfers on my back,” I selfishly added.

     Suddenly the scripture came to my mind, “Be not weary in well doing.” The thought sharply admonished my soul.

     “Oh Father,” I prayed, “forgive me of my selfishness.”

    The time was unimportant; I simply wanted a nap. Like that day, I felt I deserved a break after all the time and energy I had invested into homeschooling my children and running my household, but my selfishness was robbing me of the joy of caring for my son.
     Today I no longer have the joy of caring for my son. Justin went home
to be with the Lord on March 3, 2004, at the age of seventeen. I still have three children at home, and two of them are still home schooled. What a joy and a privilege to be able to impart wisdom and plant seeds of character and integrity into their lives. Why do I grow weary when my primary job is to serve and care for my children? This is the task I was called to do, and I know the One who called is certainly able to provide the strength I lack.

     May the Lord bless each of your families, and when spring
days seem overwhelming, be encouraged; do not grow weary in well doing.

Meet Sheila Campbell
 

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