Idle hands – Devil´s hands

To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
Genesis 3:17-19

I´ve spent a couple of months lost to the labour of Adam (i e I´m unemployed), and never will experience the labour of Eve (i e I´m a man). So maybe the original sin has lost it´s sting on me? No such luck I´m afraid, unemployment sucks in every department, including the spiritual ones. Idleness is not good for spiritual health, it drains the soul worse than the purse. That this should somewhat darken the usually gay and merry tone of speech in this blog (irony, get thee behind me!) is only to be expected.

A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest-
and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.
Proverbs 6:10-11

Why is this so, one may ask? If I was into Greek philosophy, idleness is next to bliss, for now would be the time to excavate the mysteries of the universe. A handful of Eastern religions would count me lucky not participating in the illusion that work is actually productive. As a christian however, along comes Luther, Weber and the protestant work ethic and gets me down. Or should get me down maybe, but the problem isn´t so much guilt of not being productive, as it is boredom. And boredom is very far from the peace and quiet of the saints. It might be said to be the Devil´s anti-image of inner peace. If I were to “retreat” in search of spiritual emptiness and silence in prayer, that´s a space for the Lord´s presence, and I´m his temple. If I´m forced to inactivity or fall into it unawares, that´s on the contrary an invitation to all kinds of nastiness to my inner sanctum. Who leaves the house in pretty bad shape as Jesus tells us.

Anyway, the future is now looking up, the clouds are disappearing towards the horizon, the waters are calmed and the storm is stilled. Since I got a job in Kalmar from next month onwards! Now, one could say that´s not very spiritual, letting my state of mind be influenced by such trivial concerns as having or lacking a job. So be it, I was a bit down and out at being unemployed, and now am cheerful about getting a job. I don´t imagine this makes me more or less in the eyes of God, and a working title is certainly not the heavenly new name written on a smooth white stone. But I am a whole person, with relations, activities, thoughts and body thrown in for good measure, and that whole person now says: Thanks be to God! The giver of all things worth receiving.

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matt 6:28-34