12/9/2021
<br>Author: Mike Kelley
<br>Title: Mike's Minute
<br><br>He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. <br><br>Proverbs 18:9<br><br>A man was once drawn by the idea that living in “quiet contemplation away from human society” was the sure path to happiness. He wandered into the desert to become a hermit. After many days, he found a cave near a spring where he could obtain water and grow a few plants for food. Feeling self-sufficient, he spent many idle hours in solitude. <br><br>Eventually, the hours of the day seemed never to end. His loneliness depressed him. Feeling more cursed than holy, he cried, “Father God, let me die. I am weary of this life.”  Exhausted, he fell asleep and dreamed that an angel stood before him, saying, “Cut down the palm tree that grows near the spring and turn its fibers into a rope.”  <br><br>The hermit awoke and with great effort and many hours of toil, he felled the palm tree and made a coil of robe from its fibers. Again the angel appeared to him, saying, “I’ve seen you smiling every day as you worked. I can tell you are no longer weary of life. Go back into the world with your rope and find employment with it. Let it remind you that toil is sweet.”  <br><br>Work not only benefits the mind and wallet, but the body, emotions, and soul. Work keeps all parts of the human machine in order. Machines (and people) rust out faster than they wear out.<br><br>Remember the clock... it passes the time by keeping its hands busy!  <br>