There’s really no end to the ideas and concepts behind an enterprising family. It’s about working…together….to save money….to make money….to provide for basic needs….to help others with their needs…to be self-sufficient now, and if there comes a time when it’s necessary….it’s about wisdom and resourcefulness and being good stewards of what God has given. It’s about working with our hands simply because God created us to.
Wouldn’t you agree there is a dearth of contentment in our culture? It seems one of the biggest ironies of human nature is that prosperity often breeds discontentment and apathy. Unexplained. My Dad always said that there’s just something satisfying when you’ve put in a full day working with your hands. Perhaps it’s a major missing element in our culture? Hard work brings good sleep and deep contentment.
And nothing brings a contented spirit like producing something meaningful. In addition to all the tangible things we’ve discussed in this series, I didn’t want to fail to mention the beauty of producing art–which can be found in anything from a flower arrangement to a piece of music to a poem. God gifted humans with the sensational ability to create just about anything…let’s encourage our children and ourselves to tap into that creative gift.
“It is neither wealth nor splendor,
0 but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness.”
~Thomas Jefferson
I mentioned in yesterday’s post about the character building that comes along with enterprise. It seems like such a simple concept, but more and more we look around and see a society who doesn’t understand it. Giving children responsibility–enterprising–is GOOD for them. I hear a lot of parents express their concern over “children working too much” but very few seem concerned about not enough.
Keep in mind that a family doesn’t have to create a home business to be “enterprising”; we’re talking here about a simple philosophy of working and production to further the family economy in any and every way.
Tom Brokaw wrote a book entitled “The Greatest Generation”. Do you know which generation that was? The children who grew up during the Great Depression. Now think of that for a moment…one of the most common replies I hear about not wanting more children is that “we can’t afford it”. What message does that reflect? The truth is: 1. We can afford more in this day than perhaps ever in history. 2. If “the greatest generation” was born out of too much poverty and an overload of work, why are we afraid of a fraction of that plight? We continue to believe that “affordability” and an easy life makes” good” children, no matter how often we see proof otherwise. But, I digress on a slight rant 😉
Let’s give our children the gift of work, and a feeling of belonging to an enterprise that matters. Nothing will hold a family together like the need for everyone to be a part.
Enterprise: a unit of economic organization with a systematic purposeful activity.
“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
William Faulkner
“There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.”
Henry Ford
