Tuesday, January 29, 2013

"D" Is For Diligence


Diligence must be added to our alphabet soup to give it “consistency.” J  I think of Proverbs 4:23 and 26 in the KJV that say “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life… Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.”  And Proverbs 22:29 tells us “Do you see a man skilled (diligent) [KJV] in his work?  He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure man.”

I hear women deplore their unfinished projects, because they have trouble finishing what they start.  They admit to procrastination because they “just don’t feel like doing it right now.”  Distraction sets in when some new idea or project catches their fancy.  I think of women who told me they have many yards of fabric stashed on dusty shelves for that “someday” project, for those three quilts they want to make, or other numerous half-finished projects.  They despair of the mess, and just close the door on the sewing room. 

The Proverbs 31 woman is extolled for her numerous virtues.  Verse 13 tells us this godly woman “works with eager hands”; verse 17 says “she sets about her work vigorously”; and verse 27 reads, “She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.”   

The Lord gave me a poem about the sluggard using Proverbs 6:10 and Proverbs 24:30-34.  A sluggard is defined as a habitually lazy, shiftless, and inactive person; an idle person, a dawdler, a dolittle, loafer, slouch… you get the picture. 

The Sluggard

Go to the ant now, O sluggard.
Consider her ways and be wise.
Turn off the telly, stretch out the belly!
Open the lids of your eyes.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
Just one more snooze and the folding of hands
Will put you in debt way too deep.

I went past the field of the sluggard;
Past the vineyard of him who was slack.
Thorns had grown through his garden,
The ground and the wall was a wreck.

I took to heart ways of the sluggard.
A lesson was learned, and I knew
A little more sleep and the folding of hands
Will keep me from things I should do.

Elaine Beachy
January 29, 2013

I’m sure there are times when all of us don’t feel like cleaning up the kitchen, or getting the load of laundry out of the dryer and folding it.  We don’t feel like packing one more lunch, dusting the furniture yet again, cleaning the bathrooms, etc.  I have found it’s all about attitude.  I have a Simply Said wall design that says, “A good attitude makes a great difference.”  And it helps me to have a thankful attitude.  I have to choose to begin thanking the Lord for all His blessings, and before I know it, I feel energized and happy! 

God bless you, dear reader, and may you be energized as you add diligence to your batch of “alphabet soup!"





Copyright © 2013 Elaine Beachy

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