Getting out of Life what we put into it with Love--by Linden Malki

         

God, You created us with the ability to make what we need out of what You provided, but also with the knowledge to do it according to Your design. We can make it right, or we can make it badly. You create us as babies, and give us to parents to love, teach, and take care of.  We have the capacity to learn,but not always in the same way. This world was created to use all of the different talents and abilities that we are provided, but we need to put our efforts and talents to work. We need to provide the teaching and opportunities for our children to learn and make use of the talents each is given.  We also need to use the teaching of others to give our kids the best shot at learning and working.

I was given an opportunity to see this in action this week.  My four kids grew up working; we had a business, and they spent time helping and learning . My older daughter could check in a shipment when she was six, and ran my office when she was in high school. We moved the store several years ago, and she found some tax form copies that she had filled out and filed when she was fourteen. She has a degree in finance, and is an accountant with as much work as she can do, still doing my accounting and taxes (and occasionally mentions things still does the way I taught her).

When my younger son was sixteen, he went up the street to an art supply store, and talked them into hiring him. At the beginning, he commented that selling a tube of paint was similar to selling spark plugs, which he already knew how to do. He worked there for the rest of high school, and when he was in college, he worked for a similar store near the Chapman University campus. He has gone on to writing, film, an online comic strip, several books, and other creative things. The other day, one of the people from the local art store came by my store to give us a flier advertising a closing sale, as the current owner has serious health issues, and asked me to pass the word to my son David. He came out to see them yesterday, and mentioned that there were things he had learned there that he still uses often. It is a reminder that "work" is more than drudgery; it should involve learning skills that we can use for the rest of our lives, starting from the beginning.  We need to understand that work skills are part of the legacy that we pass on to our own children, and others that we have the opportunity to work with.