Survival Living

Parents often downgrade the ongoing requirements of civilized living to chores for one of two reasons, 1) the tasks in and of themselves are not rocket science and children can usually do them, and/or 2) the adults do get tired of doing the same things over and over and want some relief. Both are woefully inadequate reasons for minimizing the immensity and value such tasks offer life.

Every individual in a family is crucial to God’s design of that family and every individual is completely responsible to master the basic living tasks that comprise civilized life’s work. The sooner any family member welcomes and takes on such living tasks as important elements of their own personal good life, the better everyone will be.

Ignoring the tasks does not help the intended doer’s character—or the comfort and respect of others in the home. Making them a home battleground ruins everyone’s fellowship. Mindlessly going through the motions does not demonstrate creativity, or good process analysis skills. Slap-dashing through tasks resentfully wastes opportunities for building a spirit of sweet service to others, and squanders equally good opportunities to grow in contentment, stewardship skills, and gratefulness to God and other providers.

We like to think this family cohesiveness was easier back in the undocumented, we-make-it-what-we-want-it-to-be halcyon days of “pioneer living.” You know, the days when death, dirt, and starvation were part of growing up, if you survived growing up. The days when heartbroken parents mourned another baby dying before their second birthday, Days when children were routinely shuttled from home to home as parents and grandparents died. Now our modern mourning comes as another young adult becomes a wanton murderer and children are shuttled around because dad has bailed, mom is an addict, and no one else wants to be bothered with another brat.

In those days, basic living was time consuming, hard work, and resulted in survival. If everyone did not pitch in and majorly help, the winter’s food might be spoiled or not even exist. We like to think that the struggle to physically survive aided family cohesiveness.

Today most people view basic living as more about material comfort and convenience, not survival. Mechanical maids, advanced medicine, social networks, and government largess all help insulate families from physical survival risks. For all their value, however, none of those entities can assure the survival of family as a nurturing institution. Nurtured families is a spiritual province, with God at the helm, not the adults of the home,  and the “basic tasks for civilized living” are as vital for the survival of family relationships as they were when families thought their primary benefit was physical survival.