On Running Away From Responsibility

There are moments when most of us rise above ourselves and our surroundings and sense the glory of service and see beyond the tiresome routine of some of the things we do each day. Those are glorious moments. But perhaps there is no man or woman who lives through life without feeling at times deeply discouraged and weighed down with responsibilities.

Perhaps there never was a mother with her children around her, who couldn’t find cause to become discouraged with the work of the home weighing heavily upon her, and with the many unmentioned duties that never quite get done, or that seem so quickly to be undone. And perhaps there never was a father who was faced with the problems of providing for a family who couldn’t sometimes feel weighed down with the weight of all that was dependent upon him.

Fortunately we face these things as they come, and usually our power to do grows with what has to be done. But sometimes the load may look too heavy, the tasks too tedious, the work too wearisome; and at tired and discouraging times there may be temptation to run away from responsibility.

Thoreau once wrote: “That we have so little faith is not sad, but that we have so little faithfulness. For by faithfulness, faith is earned.” Blessedly for all of us, our forebears somehow found a way to face their responsibilities—with faith, and faithfulness. And we owe it to the past to do no less in the present, and for the future. No man, no woman, no parent, no provider, no person can possibly find any sincere satisfaction in running away from responsibility. In the first place, anyone who runs away from responsibility loses part of his self—respect. In the second place, he cannot run away from himself.

Granted that sometimes some things seem to be all but unbearable. Granted that any household, any assignment, any situation can become trying, burdensome, boring. But life is a test of faith and faithfulness. And for the sake of others as well as of ourselves, for the sake of being able to face our Father in heaven without a sense of shame, we shouldn’t run away.

“By faithfulness, faith is earned”—and so is happiness, and so is peace of mine, and so is self—respect. God help us to have the faith and the faithfulness to endure to the end—to continue in faithful performance.