Its Better to be Rich and Healthy than Poor and Sick

Last updated on: May 20, 2017 at 10:59 am by Anne Kennedy

Its Better to be Rich and Healthy than Poor and Sick 2017-05-20T10:59:45-04:00 Anne Kennedy

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

All my best laid plans have come to naught. Was going to leap up with the dawn, cheerful and bright, and trip lightly to the kitchen and laundry, restoring the glad tidings of order out of chaos. Oh well, I guess I won’t worry about that now. Instead I will wander around in the usual circle of Saturday distraction.

Actually, this week was a remarkable one in that, for the first time in many months, I did have short periods of buzzing around with energy. For example, one day I walked into the kitchen, saw that the stupid kitchen carpet (for real, who installs carpet in a kitchen) was like the sand along the shore of the sea, breezily walked over to the vacuum, pushed it into the kitchen and literally, I kid you not, vacuumed the floor. I know right. Completely amazing (insert string of your favorite shocked emojis here). Other remarkable events like this occurred throughout the week–loading the dishwasher, scrubbing the shower, pulling weeds, washing a big pot–domestic tasks heretofore lost to me in the mists of thyroidal incompetence.

This new haze of cheerful industry brought home to me once again the tragic truth that unhappiness and depression are, for me anyway, usually always linked to the sense of loss of control. Or to say it in a more hideous way, I’m a control freak. When I’m in control, I’m happy. When I am unable to exert control over my environment I am unhappy.

I read a long time ago that this is the usual way of humanity. Some study was done on the general health of the employees in a massive office like situation–some big financial company or other. There was the CEO at the top, and the grunt boy at the bottom. They took everyone’s blood pressure and symptoms of ill health (look at the breezy way I am able to talk about science!) and discovered, alarmingly, that the people at the top of the structure were healthy, happy, and rich, and the people at the bottom were sick, unhappy, and poor.

I, of course, was shocked to read such a revolutionary study. And so I carefully examined my own life and discovered that, yes, those times when I have been at the top of the food chain have been the best for me personally. Whereas, that moment when I was the poor sucker wandering around a lumber mill at night wearing a hard hat, carrying a hose, and looking for a fire to put out was not quite so charming. Depressing, in fact. To be dependent and out of control is difficult, and horrible, and it’s easy for the whole self to turn towards the dark side of depression and bitterness.

The person who has the wherewithal to manage a household, without reference to other people’s demands and peculiarities, is actually quite high up in terms of riches and freedom. I don’t have a ‘boss’. No one yells at me for how badly I entered all those figures into that database and then went on to misfile a whole ream of financial documents (another low point in my working carrier). Housekeeping, for me, is essentially creative–the restoration of cosmic order against the imperiling darkness of chaos. I organize my own time. I get to be my own person.

But take that away with sickness, or perhaps in other cases by marrying a domineering and unkind husband, or perhaps by being ill equipped for the task, or by just hating it, or in any other way feeling the profound absence of freedom, and the SAHM is no better off than that grunt boy in a huge office structure.

And truly, this whole paradigm is why the church, though certainly hierarchical in many ways, should breathe out a powerful sense of freedom. A church is not a company. There should be no compulsion. There should be no Telling Other People What To Do. In the church we have to ask for help from each other. We can only plead and persuade the Other to come to something or to do any of the work. The compulsion can only be inward, from God himself, the Holy Spirit who constrains, convicts, and compels the believer towards holiness. Even then it is always an outworking of freedom, the true bright liberty that comes from holiness and self sacrifice. There should be none of the ill health and psychological problems associated with the corporate post industrial drudgery of the ordinary person’s working life. Of course, we’re all sinners and so even in the church we manage Not to live this out. But the dream should be real.

As for me, I must remember this moment and savor it for when, sometime mid winter, I believe the lie that keeping house is a drag and the best thing in the world would be to go back and be the checkout person at the Christmas Tree Shop.

culture watch

Notes from Home

Work and the Christian

Previous Post

May 19, 2017

7 Mothering Takes

Next Post

May 21, 2017 The Water of Bitterness

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Children in Conversation culture watch Daily Devotions Demotivations with Anne faith alone for the grandparents GAFCON In conversation with children In the News Kitchen Notes Lambeth Learning Notes Life Going On Men are Human Notes from Home Pictures Reading the Bible Saturday Links Sermons Signs of the Apocalypse The Bad Word Association The Prayer of Jonah Travel Notes Uncategorized Witless Wednesdays Work and the Christian

Select a Month June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I am a sea that parted to let my people cross on dry ground but drowned their enemies. What am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Jordan River The Red Sea The Mediterranean Sea The Sea of Galilee

Books by This Author Books by Anne Kennedy

See All Titles »