Today’s Theme: What We Sacrifice When We Choose Idleness
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Scripture
Through laziness, the rafters sag; because of idle hands, the house leaks.
Ecclesiastes 10:18
Reflection
Here’s some motivation for all of us. Ooh, wee, I need this kick in the rear today. Are you ready? Okay, let’s do this!
Get up. Get out. Get going. If your days aren’t being spent doing the things that help you fulfill your purpose, then ask yourself why? What aren’t you doing to have more focused and productive days? What can you do today to glorify God? What can you do to help someone feel His joy today? What can you do today that will bring you joy?
For those of you who just excused away your goals, be honest with yourself.
Why?
What goals do you have for this month that you haven’t achieved? It’s the 24th of May. The month isn’t over. As long as your goal wasn’t too lofty, like “lose 20 pounds this month,” and as of today, you have only lost 3 pounds, then you can finish strong and possibly with a victory under your belt. Maybe your goal is to start learning a foreign language. Well, I recommend the Duolingo app. There are, of course, other apps and programs out there. This is just one that I enjoy using.
When you think about goals, it’s important that your goals are challenging but attainable. So you may need to reassess what you’re pursuing and how. And in the case of weight loss or weight gain, let’s make sure that our goals are also healthy ones. Having a goal of gaining or losing 20 pounds in a month isn’t a healthy pursuit unless a doctor has prescribed this for health reasons and you are under their care and guidance. Let’s always place safety first and stop looking for microwave results.
If you have a career or financial goal, like changing jobs or career paths, starting a business, launching a new product, or earning “X”-dollars by a certain date, are you investing at least 5 to 8 hours of pure sweat equity towards your goal per day? You may have a 9 to 5 job, but that simply means from 7 to 12, you’re focused on your goal, or you split up the time throughout your day. I have episodes dedicated to career and entrepreneurship that you can find through my company’s Don’t Call It Small….Business podcast. Visit ForemanLLC.com/podcast to explore.
Now some of you may be telling yourself a big fat lie week after week, like “I’m still in the research and development stage.” Saying that you’re “still researching” or “working on the details” months and years after setting the goal are usually the fallback excuses for lack of progress. You’re stagnant and not admitting why. Is it because you’re either confused about the next steps and need help or that you’re simply afraid to take those steps? Admit it so you can move forward. If it’s fear, we’ll cover that shortly. If it’s confusion or needing help, you need to go to God for direction. Also, don’t assume that you have to wait for God to deliver you something. It may already be in front of you. He could’ve delivered it to you months or years ago.
Your answers may come through a friend or family member or a friend of a family member. It could come from a person you met in the waiting room at your dentist’s office. Sources of help can come from the oddest, as well as the most obvious of places, so don’t rule out anything until you have at least inquired first. I keep learning these lessons. If, on the other hand, you’re just being lazy, then you already know you won’t make any progress because you’re making the choice to not do anything.
You have to take responsibility for that. Own your mess. And let’s be clear, those of you roaming around with an entitlement mindset, expecting someone to do for you, to hook you up, and for riches to just pour over you—snap out of it. The only thing that’s going to pour over you is misery. What else can you expect when you’re not making a positive contribution— the same return on that investment. Even if you receive money from a trust fund, what are you doing with the money?
How do you view the relationship you have with this money since you don’t have to earn it? The fund was created to help you focus less on some things so you could focus more on others. The fund was put in place to free you to pursue your dreams, not live recklessly.
So whether you’re lazy or entitled, or both, stop wanting someone to do for you what you won’t do for yourself. Get up, try, fail, or succeed, and try again—or try something new. But do something! If you’re saying, “Natasha, I haven’t set any goals, but it’s not because I’m lazy; it’s that I don’t know where to start…” Think about things this way—what recurring dreams are you dismissing as just being dreams instead of possibly a direction or calling? What ideas have been placed in your heart that you haven’t pursued? Those can be your goals. Just like I mentioned earlier, you may need help from someone who can assist you with planning, execution, and follow-up. But first, you need to identify and make sense of what you’re dreaming about.
Now let’s be honest with each other. Fear is a punk. Laziness leads to failure. Why do we give in to either of them? They both lead to our misery. I know firsthand how suffocating life can be when consumed by fear or disconnected through laziness. You may say, “But I don’t want to be a failure or seen as one,” and that fear is what’s holding you back. If you don’t want to be a failure or be seen as one, then you have to do the opposite of what you’re currently doing. Failing doesn’t make you a failure. Doing nothing does. Instead of sitting around looking at life pass you by, get up and make the most of your day. Take things in smaller, manageable chunks. Even if you fail to achieve your goals, at least it wouldn’t be due to your laziness, or because you didn’t try, or because you sat on your butt making excuses.
Change is difficult. We rarely change because we want to; it’s usually because we have to—circumstances get so intense that we’re left with only two options: be consumed by the misery of our present or change our ways, with a hope for the better. We try to excuse away the choices we’ve made. We excuse our laziness. We try to blame others for the situations we choose to enter and remain. Stop making excuses, stop trying to play the blame game, and start living your dreams. No one can keep you from achieving your goals except you.
If God can’t trust you with the little things, then how do you expect Him to trust you with the big things?
Maybe you won’t become a billionaire, but instead, you will create a life that gives you the freedom of choice that you admire in the billionaire lifestyle. You may not end up with that 20,000-square-foot home, but instead, you buy a 2,000-square-foot home, and you get to travel several times a year to see the places you once only dreamed about. You have to learn to see things from different angles and vantage points.
Don’t give up before you get started, and don’t give up just because it gets rough. Get up, get out, and with God as your Counselor, make smart decisions and career moves that will help propel your life where it needs to be—where God intends for it to be.
Prayer
Father, rid me from any laziness that I might possess. Cause me to rise up from my slumber. If necessary, make things so uncomfortable in my life that I must do something positive to change my circumstances for the better. Help me face my fears because they aren’t as big as my fear of losing favor in Your eyes Lord.
I don’t want to lose the gifts and blessings You have given me because I‘n not doing my part to take care of and nurture them. I don’t want to lose the things You have loaned me. I don’t want my mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health negatively impacted because I have disconnected from Your plan and purpose for me Lord. An idle mind is a mind not focused on You Father, and I want my mind and heart to always be focused and connected to You. In Your Name I pray. Amen.
Wow, today’s message really hits home for me, serving as a huge reminder. I’m motivated to make the most of my day. I hope it helps you and someone you know. Maybe you will share it. If so, I thank you now.
And with that family, I pray that you are blessed, that you see and embrace your blessings, and that you are a blessing to others.
Copyright 2011-2024. Natasha L. Foreman. Some Rights Reserved. All Prayers and Reflections are Copyright Protected by Natasha L. Foreman. BreakingBreadWithNatasha.com
Music: Climb by Shane Ivers; Quiescent In Time by Shane Ivers – https://www.silvermansound.com
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