Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Do you see someone skilled in their work?
    They will serve before kings;
    they will not serve before officials of low rank.

• Proverbs 22:29

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

• Matthew 25:21

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

• 2 Timothy 2:15

I noticed a familiar dynamic when I visited my son in Tennessee.

When our two children were growing up, they did things to get out of work when they knew it was the other’s turn to do that chore the next day.

Instead of having three playing that game, it was the younger two who definitely love to torment each other.  Yet, the closest that the kitchen sink came to getting empty was when the youngest realized he had pushed too many of his father’s buttons, and he washed all the dishes except for the sharp knives.  He is barely “house broken” and cannot be trusted with a sharp knife.  Sad, in that he is ten years old and his father was trusted with sharp objects for a couple of years when he turned ten.

But the almost clean sink in the photo is when the teenager did the dishes.  That was usually the dynamic.  The younger two spent more energy trying to get out of doing the dishes that the older brother did them before their father, my son, got very angry at all three.  Over the past year or so when I would call them on the phone, I cannot count the times that they ordered a pizza because they had no pot or pan to cook a meal.

So, while I see the same dynamic happening in the next generation, when it was our turn to be parents, my wife and I would do dishes so that the children got a home-cooked meal.

But they have been through a lot in the last two years.  My son has been on short term disability more than he has worked, and the insurance company loves playing games.  They will eventually pay up, but in the meantime, how do they eat?  And all of this following my wife’s passing.

On this trip, the youngest at least tried to do as I instructed rather than carefully doing the opposite of everything I said.  But after he cleaned all the dishes, I called for him to come to where I was working at the kitchen table.  He ran away instead.  I chased him.  Like knocking at the door, I knocked him on his head to see if anyone was at home, not very hard, so probably not enough to get his attention.  I told him that every time he runs away from his father, the punishment is worse once he gets caught.  And all I wanted to do was hug him, and thank him for washing all the dishes, and not just a few – saving the nasty ones for his sister to do tomorrow.

Every family is a work in progress.  We are all works in progress, so combining a few of those into a family seems to make that work harder at times.

But have we lost the concept of having pride in a job well done?  God does not like proud people, but He expects us to do our best as the Scriptures above testify.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.