”Prepare thy work without, And make it fit for thyself in the field; And afterwards build thine house.“
Proverbs 24:27
There are two ideas following along the same principle. The concept is to prepare your occupation and secure your income before building your house.
One way to express the concept is to expend the time and energy needed to facilitate gaining your income therefore you can utilize resources to build your house and not jeopardize your income.
The phrase, “build your house,” can mean two things.
- Build a structure or domicile.
- Build a household, as in descendants of an organized body.
There appears to be a lack of household building in our modern mindset. We seem to have misplaced the concept.
In the book of Proverbs there is a strong household building theme. This is not to suggest we should all live on a compound or farm with our families, not that it is wrong to do, however, we should be building strong families and strong family ties.
I will go so far as to say families that to build strong ties can wield a power no other force or brotherhood can conjure.
At one point I became very ill. My son, who was about 13 was attempting to earn money to pay some bills for our family. My Brother offered work on his property and my Son did several (hard work) jobs for his Uncle who paid him handsomely. This is a small example of families pulling together to get through hard times. I, however, will be eternally grateful for my Son who was willing to man up and my Brother who was there to help when we needed it most.
Here are three suggestions:
1. Do not wait until you are an adult to start building your career. Waiting places you at a disadvantage in several ways. For example, I wanted to be a Teacher so that is what I went to College for. When I became a Teacher, I hated being trapped in a room all day and found myself taking advantage of any excuse to get the class outside. Curiously enough, I did every side job possible when I was a student to get outside of the classroom. If I hated being in class when I was a Student, I should have known I would hate being in class as a Teacher. Fortunately, I had several other occupational experiences which paid off and got me through. Now, I am a Teacher but I do not have to live in a classroom setting.
2. Get out and experience the world of occupations available. Pay attention and be humble. You might find the things you hate doing will be the thing you were built for but you needed to be humbled to find it.
I hated writing. Now I am an Author and I find writing is my creative outlet. I went through a very humbling experience to learn the lesson.
3. Go, try, fail, get up and go again and keep trying and keep failing and keep getting back up. That is going to be the process you will be forced to follow your entire life. So, embrace it and get excellent at the process early so you can perfect it.
In summary, start early securing your career and make it a priority in your life. When you have gained some success and can readjust your energy, build a house and then a household