“Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do.” ~Oscar Wilde, Irish poet, novelist, dramatist and critic (1854-1900)
Babushka kept her son’s toys stored away in a cupboard. He had died unexpectedly in infancy. Daily she busied herself tending house – cooking, cleaning, baking, washing… One morning there was a knock at the door. She opened it to find the three Kings, the Magi.
Since they traveled by night (to follow the star) they asked if they could sleep at Babushka’s house for the day as there was no inn in the small town. Babushka fed them and gave them a place to sleep until the sun set and the star reappeared.
As the Magi were preparing to leave that evening, Balthazar invited Babushka to come with them to find a new king they were seeking. Unfortunately she was “too busy” and, after all, she would need time to find “an appropriate gift.”
After the Magi departed, Babushka resumed doing those things with which she was most comfortable – sweeping, polishing, dusting, cleaning – but Balthazar’s invitation continued to tug at her. A thought came to her. She went to the cupboard where her son’s toys were stored and opened the door.
After some consideration, Babushka decided the toys would make good gifts for the “new born King,” but, of course, they needed to be thoroughly cleaned first. She spent the rest of the night cleaning and polishing the toys. Once finished, she planned to leave in the morning, overtaking the Magi while they slept during the day.
Daybreak came. The toys looked like new, but exhausted from her work, Babushka fell asleep and did not awake until after nightfall. Realizing she was now almost two days behind the Magi, she quickly packed up the toys and rushed out to find the three Kings.
She followed their path from village to village, but arrived in Bethlehem too late. The Magi had “gone home another way” to avoid Herod. Likewise, Joseph had spirited Mary and the baby Jesus away to Egypt to escape the “slaughter of the innocence”.
Not knowing what else to do Babushka began to wander the world, and continues to do so every Christmas Eve. Still carrying her bag of toys, she gives them to small children in the hope that one of them is the Christ child.
Babushka, in modern terms, is a workaholic. When Balthazar offers Babushka the opportunity to come along to find the Christ child she is “too busy" with what she sees as important: her work.
Work is more than just work, however. As it is for most of us, it is her security blanket. Going to find the baby Jesus means doing something with which she is unaccustomed. It means stepping out of her comfort zone.
As Americans we often define ourselves by our work. Like Babushka, work makes us feel secure because we know what we are supposed to do and how we are supposed to do it. It is also a coping mechanism. Babushka addresses the pain of losing her infant son by distracting herself with work.
The difficulty is that we are often so busy with our work, with what we think is important, that we fail to hear God’s call. Sometimes we are called to set aside life’s distractions, particularly our work: “‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.” (Mark 4:18)
As good stewards of our time, we are called upon to find a balance in our lives. If we are going to follow Jesus we are, at times, going to have to set some things aside. In a way, Jesus is saying, “Put down your nets before you get tangled in them.” We can become entangled in the net we call work, so much so that we do not know any other way to function.
As Christian Stewards we know time is a gift from God and how we use that gift is important. How will we spend Christmas this year? Will we be too busy with other things to notice our greatest gifts? Will we become entangled in our own nets and complain we are too busy?
Will we allow old resentments, fears and hurts to hold us back from experiencing the love which is readily available to us? Will we be like Babushka who is so distracted by her work she ultimately encounters an empty stable and spends the rest of her days trying to find happiness?
Put down your nets this Christmas and come to the manger. Jesus is waiting for you.
Dear Lord, remind me your Son calls me to something greater than myself.
“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important” Bertrand Russell, English logician and philosopher (1872-1970)
(Babushka is the Russian version of Santa Claus.)
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