Blog 3633 – 10.14.2025
Busy Hands
The old adage goes: “Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.” I do not believe in the Devil of mythology, but I do believe in a false god of our own making called ego who to me seems to merit the title Satan (accuser of the brothers) more than any fallen angel that supposedly reigns of an equally mythology eternal burning lake of fire where to quote the Munchkin’s song “the goblins go, below, below, below.” And according to some Christians so will every person who ever lived or ever will except one hundred and forty-four thousand people who will win the lottery jackpot and get to go to heaven, another mythical place that Dorthy heard of once in a lullaby that is somewhere over the rainbow. Really folks, people get to believe whatever they choose, but some of this nonsense is pretty hard to swallow.
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But, I digress, which is my usual modus operandi (method). The point I started out to make is about the importance of keeping our hands busy to keep them from being co-opted by our darker impulses and misused to destroy instead of create.
In my daily mantra I include these words:
“Whatsoever my hands find to do this day, I shall do with my whole heart, finding purpose in even the most menial and repetitive of tasks.” I marvel at how even the most difficult and laborious tasks can be accomplished by just a little manual labor every day.
I think, one of the great secrets to accomplishment and a happy life is found in another adage that I prefer much more than the idle hands one and it goes like this: “See a job that needs doing and do it.” How often have we heard others or even ourselves say, “Somebody ought to do something about that”?
It is also said, “If you want to get something done give it to someone who is busy.” The sense of accomplishment after completing even the smallest task with our own hands is addicting. Busy hands it would appear are the Creator’s workshop. People who are bored thinking they have little or nothing to do just are not paying attention, or perhaps the think some work beneath them. Proverbs says, “A good workman is worthy of the company of kings.”
Your friend and fellow traveler,
David James White
Handy Man
theencouragingword 