The word eager shows that the heart is enthused about the work at hand.
The plans of the diligent lead to profit. (Proverbs 21:5) Diligent hands will rule. (Proverbs 12:24)
Diligent: duteous, honorable, meticulous, reliable, observant and opportune.
Certainly there is work we do each day as wives and mothers, tedious mundane work that never ends and rarely gets caught up. I don’t know many women who enjoy doing the laundry, cleaning house, preparing 3 meals a day, continually picking up and putting away, running errands and children around, etc. Some women would rather work outside the home where they get paid. But, where is the love in that? We’ll not get the most important things done in our lifetime, and neither will we receive any reward at the end.
In America we see girls growing up thinking that they are above the woman’s work of the olden days, but back then women put family and home first and they did not have all the modern conveniences we have today that women just won’t live without. It was noble of women to stay busy at home. Back then marriage was for life and you worked through your difference, offenses and hardships. Back then families were much stronger and dependent on each other, and it was beneficial for 3 generations to live together. Children were not doing the things that most children are doing today that are so shameful and destructive. Things that should never be done are being done by young children today. Children are raping and killing children. Children are hitting their parents and even killing their parents. Children are taking drugs and having sex. Children are trained to go to war; to fight, kill and die for a false religion.
Working with eager hands can be simply taking care of family and home and being fully satisfied with that.
I remember when marriages lasted a lifetime; when the whole family took pride in their everyday work; when families sat around the breakfast and dinner table talking to each other; when homes were open to unexpected company; when communities were safe because the family was strong and benevolent.
Lois, my mother-in-law, died at the ripe old age of 92. Cliff and Lois had and raised twelve children. They didn’t have most of the modern conveniences we have today that make our work at home easier and that give us more time on our hands. But, what have we actually done “with more time on our hands?” We have more adultery and divorces. We have more children raising themselves. We have more crime due to the breakdown of the family. We have more suicides and addictions. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Lois had a saying that she used all the time on her boys especially: “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” I tend to agree. We can see lots of evidence all over the world that Satan has found in every generation plenty of willing and eager hands to use effectively for his devilish will.
My precious mother-in-law taught me how to garden, to can my food and store it. She taught me how to cook my husband’s favorite foods. She taught me to crochet and quilt, even though I don’t do it anymore. She taught me how to stay busy at home with eager hands; something that is rare today.
Lois taught me the importance of continual prayer for your family, another rare thing today. I remember she always had that famous picture of a man sitting at the table with his head bowed over his praying hands. Lois was a prayer warrior for her family.
When I was in high school I was eager to have more clothes than my mother could afford, God bless her. So I learned to sew simple “a-line” skirts by hand. My mother finally bought me a used sewing machine which I sat on the floor to sew with. I took “clothing” in my senior year of high school where I learned to sew by using patterns. I went from basic designs to more detailed ones. After we had children I started making their clothes when they were little (and didn’t have anything to say about it). Back then it was cheaper to make your own clothes than to buy them. But one thing is for sure: Home-made is far better, and that goes for just about anything that you learn to do yourself.
If you don’t know how to use-leftovers, or to grow in a garden something to eat and feed your family with, to cook using basic ingredients and to store your own food, to mend and sew, to make do and be content with little, to use your imagination to alter something in order to make it work for what you need at the moment, to see little things with a special purpose – then what will you do when all that you have depended on that is of this world isn’t there to depend on anymore?
Your heavenly Father is more eager than you are to see the work of your hands produce good things for practical use.