Good morning Ladies! I pray you are all doing well. It is a beautiful, cool morning here in Burkina Faso. If you are reading this right now but haven’t had the chance to read God’s Word for yourself today, take a moment and head over to your Bible app! It’s far better to first hear what God has for you personally than read what I might have to say!
My apologies that today’s is a bit long winded!
Reading: Ezekiel 29:1-30:26, Hebrews 12:14-29, Proverbs 20:1-18
Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
Proverbs 20:13
There are common problems anywhere you go in the world. Whether a country is rich or poor, sin abounds and corrupts anything it touches. However most countries are radically different in culture, language, religion, and more.
Laziness can be a problem here in Burkina just as easily as the next country. However, I am still daily impressed by what the average lifestyle requires of the people. The laziest Burkinabé in a village could very likely still do more work in a day than the common American.
You will find very little laziness in Burkina’s villages. In the village many people marry young. Age doesn’t matter as much as if you look old enough to marry. People can be married as young as fourteen! If you don’t work you can not feed your family. It’s as simple as that. Work in the village does not yield much money. It’s not really about working for money as it is feeding your family.
I asked a Burkinabé what time someone might go to the well for water. He let me know that his mother would generally leave around five or six in the morning. She would work all day and finally head to bed around 10pm or 11pm. If she didn’t go to the well in morning, they wouldn’t have had water to drink, a way to bathe, or a way to clean around the house.
Lastly I want to mention how walking is an every day part of their life. Depending on the village location, children can walk for miles to school, sometimes walking 1-2 hours one way! Every school in Burkina requires money. Public schools are less expensive but they still have a tuition fee. If your family pays for you to go to school it is very important to go! Unless you have a bike, you must walk. You don’t have a choice!
Whether you’re a man, women, or child there is a place for you to work in the village. Choosing not to work is detrimental to you and your family. Laziness is harder to come by when work is directly related to survival!
All of this is not to say that the Burkinbé people have a naturally better work ethic than Americans. I am only shedding light on the fact that their lifestyle genuinely leaves them with no choice but to work hard. If you were to take a villager and raise them with McDonalds, supermarkets, a washing machine, paved roads, a car, running water, electric stoves, and roombas; they would be like any other American who has 5-6 hours of free time daily. (Interestingly it’s reported that most of this free time will be spent looking at a screen). Equally, an American would work just as hard as a villager if everyday work meant providing essential needs such as food and water. We are far more physically and mentally capable of disciplined work than what we think!
There are some Bible verses that come to life on the mission field! Here in Proverbs, laziness is referred to as something that will leave you without basic niceties such as bread. This is an every day reality in villages across Africa. Contrarily, in today’s first world society, it’s not far fetched to say someone could watch four hours of TV in a day yet still be fed. Laziness doesn’t seem so damaging while our needs are being met. Yet God has quite a lot to say about being slothful, and none of it is positive.
I can’t say that I am going to move my family out to a desolate village so we will always have to physically work hard. But I am greatly challenged to use my time more wisely. I am also remorseful to consider all the free time I have been given yet wasted it. Every minute I save by using my instant pot or washing machine, is a chance to use that minuet in a different, better way. Though, If I’m being honest, this is often not how it happens! Time saved from modern amenities doesn’t automatically mean I am more productive. Leisure time becomes time wasted on my phone, television, or too much sleep. I have mentioned before that the Bible says women can build up or tear down her home. Laziness to me, as a wife and mother, should be detested. It goes directly against what God has asked of me Biblically!
The last thing I want to keep in mind about laziness is God gives warnings for our benefit. God has stressed many times in his word to run from slothfulness. Even if we can be lazy and still eat our bread, we should know laziness is dangerous. These warnings should be taken seriously and encourage us to self examine our everyday lifestyle. Yet joyfully we will find that effectively using our time for Christ will undoubtably yield unmeasured joy and reward. God wants us to see, feel, and enjoy the reward of diligently spending our time wisely for Him! His advice, when taken to heart, will always grow us and better us!
So how about it ladies? Let’s see God change us for the better by letting go of laziness. Put the phone down, close facebook, turn the TV off, wake up a little earlier and lets see what opportunities God will give us each day!
– Emily Wilkerson
Psalm145five 