I have been going non-stop lately. I have hardly had time to sit and check my emails, let alone compose a blog. And even as I take the time to do it now, I can think of a million other things I could be doing. As a matter of fact, as soon as I finish up here, there are dishes to do, floors to mop, ads to sort through, a shower to take (a luxury now-a-days,)--all this assuming that the kids will be cooperative so I can manage the simple goings-on of my day.
But isn't being busy a good thing?! I can never decide if I am supposed to stay busy or take it easy (which I feel is a much nicer way of saying sit-there-and-do-nothing). I don't think anyone else can either. Just for the fun of it: let's debate.
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Warnings against laziness:
“Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise” (Proverbs 6:6).
“The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work” (Proverbs 21:25)
“He who is slothful in his work is a brother to him who is a great waster” (18:9 (Proverbs 18:9)
"Idle hands are the devil's workshop"
"How soon 'not now' becomes 'never'"-Martin Luther
“Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.” - Benjamin Franklin
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Warnings against busyness:
"Beware of the barrenness of a busy life."
"He who is too busy doing good finds no time to be good."- Rabindranath Tagore
"The really idle man gets nowhere. The perpetually busy man does not get much further."
-- Sir Heneage Ogilvie
Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. (Haggai 1:5-9)
(My personal favorite) I'm in a hurry to get things done. I rush and rush until life's no fun. All I really gotta do is live and die but I'm in a hurry and don't know why (Alabama)
...Proponent of Rest...
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (Genesis 2:2)
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Isn't life a giant balancing act?! Be busy, but not too busy to appreciate the things you are working for. And sometimes busyness is idleness if you are not busying yourself with the right things. I guess all this is to say, we must be wise with how we choose to fill our short days.
I once had a friend say she was faced on a pretty regular basis with the choice of whether she should do the dishes or play puzzles with her young children. She chose puzzles. I applaud her for that! I'm pretty sure that I would have made my kids play puzzles upstairs while I did the dishes in hopes that I would finish fast enough to catch some of the fun...and in fear that if I didn't do the dishes, it would appear to all outsiders that I was (gasp!) lazy.
Let's conclude with a guessing game: Guess what I'm about to do now?
Yep, I still don't know either! But I know I can't sit here another minute lest the pile of to-do's grows even bigger!
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