Paid Leave Please

"For as many [of you] as were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union and communion with Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah] have put on (clothed yourselves with) Christ. There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus," says Galatians 3:27-28 Amplified Bible.

When I became a single parent 20 years ago, a distinction between male and female certainly existed. I don't recall encountering full-time single dads, but I encountered many full-time single moms.

Although admittedly today most full-time single parents and most of the parenting is being done by women, I am encountering full-time single dads. One of the things that is good and different today is that a greater push for economic justice is not just being framed in terms of women's rights.

While we don't want to worship money, money matters. A Spanish word for "cash" is "efectivo." Money is a necessary tool for survival and for the advance of the Kingdom of God.

Many women say they have abortions because of concerns about the lack of money. Read my article "Thoughts About Abortion."

Proverbs 31:8 Complete Jewish Bible says, "Speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves, for the rights of all who need an advocate."

Americans and people of other societies need to reject abortion and to embrace life. One aspect of embracing life is to increase family friendliness in places of employment.

Family friendliness is more than a women's issue. Fathers are not helper-parents. Fathers are co-parents. Read my article "Do Fathers Have a Say in Abortion and Frozen Embryos?."

In the Old Testament God implemented many feasts and Sabbaths. Some of these holidays lasted for more than one day. God is for both work and rest both with generous, abundant economic provision.

It is critical that sick leave and other types of leave from work be paid leave, so that both men and women can meet the spiritual, relational and economic needs of their families. Unpaid leave is partial help. When Jesus connects truth to freedom and life, He doesn't give us a partial package. We must not remain content with unpaid leave. Paid leave is proper. Martin Luther King, Jr. says, "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."

Change for the better often takes longer than we would like because of misguided, deeply entrenched mindsets. "Pasos cortos, vista larga." ("Short steps, long view.")

Believers are not to worry when they are not working that they will lose income. God promises to give us more than we need, if we do what He says to do. In one of the Sabbaths, God says through Moses in Deuteronomy 15:1, 3-5 English Standard Version Bible, "At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. . . . But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess--if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today." Leviticus 25:3-7 New Living Translation says, "For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the Lord’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year. And don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you. Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces."

A Chinese proverb says, "Pointing to a deer and calling it a horse." It means, "Right and wrong are deliberately mixed up." Good sounding arguments do not always produce good results. Stingy employment practices hurt business, families, other people and even animals some of whom need people to take the time to adopt them.

"Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society," said Ralph Waldo Emerson.

What are some creative and positive results of rest?