David turned sixteen this February. I wrote in an earlier post that he had become a man... well, a man wants a job.
We have tried through out the coarse of our children's lives to make every minute meaningful. We want them to enjoy life
(and they do) but do not want them to waste time on mindless pursuits. We have never allowed in their play life that which we wouldn't allow in their adult life....okay except for the time I dressed them up like wild Indians and let them run all over the yard....that was a history lesson~ still had a purpose!
So with this in mind how does one go about allowing a boy to "work" as a teen? Standing at the end of a counter bagging groceries or passing burgers out a window just does not fit the ideal of time spent in meaningful pursuits.
Moving pipe allows for great physical exercise and time spent with God's creation but at sixteen when the mind moves on to "preparing for the wife of his youth and his fields" the pay is too nominal to amount to much through out the summer.
I guess I should add here that, while a paying job is nice, we would have been perfectly willing to allow David to work for no wage if he would have been able to learn a skill or a trade that would have helped him as an adult. Knowledge is of higher esteem than money.
We had discussed putting in an application at Bear World ~ he has skill in working with animals, however, they take interns from the collage to do the actual work with the animals and leave the hired youth to muck stalls and pass out tickets at the gate.... again not an option.
We had reached a standstill.... is it not amazing that when we stand still ~ God moves best?
Two weeks ago, Shane traded an entertainment center for new rain gutters for our home. He had all four boys working with him at the home while he installed the entertainment center.
Last night, totally out of the blue, the gentleman stopped by and offered David a job over the summer.... He was impressed with our boys and wanted to teach David the trade, and pay him as well! In the blink of an eye our problem had been solved and we hadn't lifted a finger.
Does God want David to install rain gutters for a living? I have not a clue..but I will tell you. The machine that makes the gutters was $8,000 from that small investment this man makes a nice living and has the flexibility of being his own boss and scheduling jobs around his family life...
Today, however, I am not thinking about what David will do for a living, that decision is in far better hands anyway. Today I am working on standing still and praising God!
.......For your father knoweth what things ye have need of,
before ye ask him.
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