Thinking About Laziness

I love the Book of Proverbs, with its pithy and wise advice. One of the children and I worked on memorizing the following verse this week:

Proverbs 18:9

New Living Translation (NLT)

⁹ A lazy person is as bad as
someone who destroys things.

Now, how is this true? As I explained to my daughter, if a person isn't doing what she should do, things will fall apart around her. She may not intend to cause harm or disarray or entropy, but by being lazy, she will allow deterioriation -- maybe in terms of relationships, maybe in terms of personal items, maybe in terms of growing mounds of laundry, maybe in terms of clutter.

So being lazy is not a good thing! It is interesting that laziness doesn't pop up for me as a "serious sin" but actually it can be. When we choose to lie around or do what WE want to do, instead of what our duties are, we are causing damage. And we are really being selfish. One interesting thing in our home is that we have so many little workers that sometimes one will say, "Why can't so-and-so do this job?" There really always is someone else though we only transfer jobs for a good reason (like someone is injured or sick.)

Now, I am not habitually lazy. I have lots of faults, but that is not one of them. I've been a dedicated worker for a long time and have driven myself hard in school, in the workplace, and as a mother and wife.

But the one time I am tempted to be "lazy" is when I am sick. It's like a part of my brain that is always pushing me forward says, "Ok, you are sick. You can take it easily until you get better." Now there is some sense to resting when sick, but part of me wants to do NOTHING. I can usually do SOMETHING. The question is, how much?

Well, I'm not sick, but I am 32 weeks pregnant. And as is usual for me at this stage in the pregnancy, I'm having a hard time physically. The last week I've had several bad afternoons. Today was bad. I tried to take a nap, but was kept awake by sharp ligament pains. I started having frequent contractions, some of them mildly painful. I did what I've been told to do -- drank a lot of liquids and rested. Thankfully, the contractions did STOP and I feel much better now. It isn't just the contractions, though they are worrisome -- I just don't feel good quite often. Food doesn't go down that well sometimes and I'm very tired and weary.

Now, it is too early to have this kid. And I did end up in the hospital at 30 weeks with our 2nd child to stop contractions. So I need to be seriously CAREFUL about not overdoing things. Really, resting and hydrating are the correct response when I am not doing well.

But...where is the line between laziness and being sensibly cautious? When I am lying down, what should I be doing? My tendency is to pick up a fun and easy book. Should I be reading something more challenging? When I do feel better, how much should I try to accomplish?

It strikes me how easy it is to take advantage of other people. Kevin is very faithful and works hard to care for me and the kids. He is also cautious about my health in late pregnancy, and often tells me to rest. I so appreciate him and his hard work for our sakes!

I don't want to take advantage of him, or anyone else. But how easy it is to be selfish and think, "Well...I'm not doing great so I'll let someone else do this job that is usually mine."

So I keep praying. I keep talking to Kevin about what he thinks I should and should not do. I try to communicate well with others about how I am feeling and what needs to be done.

And I work on remembering the counter truth, that my value as a person is not based on what I accomplish, but who I am in Jesus Christ. He is the One who makes me valuable as a person, and He is the One who gives me wisdom to do what I SHOULD do.