"Refuse to have anything to do with those among you who are lazy and refuse to work the way we taught you…We command them to get to work immediately – no excuses, no arguments – and earn their own keep. Friends, don’t slack off in doing your duty." - 2 Thessalonians 3: 6 & 13
Yesterday I was lazy. I am sorry. Really sorry. Sorry that I lost the day to nothingness, a day unrecoverable. That one is gone.
And while I was periodically granting myself “excuses” – the fact is, I went to bed knowing the hours were gone. Not memorable. I added nothing to God’s kingdom by wasting the day. I added nothing to my family. Nothing to my friends. Nothing to the wider community.
I could have been productive. I had plenty of ideas worthy of my time: study, love children, take a walk, visit elderly, home projects…
All of those – any of those – would have made getting up this morning feel different. What happens? What puts me into a lazy, useless mode? What makes me think doing nothing is a gift to myself? When in reality, it produces the opposite feeling.
The Lord has blessed me with time and freedom to serve Him. When I spend a day like I did yesterday, it is really Him I am cheating. I give myself to God as a vessel… then sink, making myself useless. Who knows what He might have whispered yesterday, as I pursued Him… if only I’d have been listening. Ugh. An ugly feeling in my heart to have wasted so many hours.
But today is new. I humbly ask the Lord to encourage me, to let yesterday go and to start fresh today. I request His grace for focus, diligence, energy, desire, purpose… Whatever it takes, I want today to be different than yesterday. I look to my God for mercy and motivation – to do life differently today.
And God smiles back with grace.
“Immerse yourself in the curriculum of grace.” - Max Lucado
TO CONSIDER: Would a moment of stillness surface both your failure and His grace?