 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|||||
 |
|
Laziness “The lazy person is full of excuses, saying, “I can’t go outside because there might be a lion on the road! Yes, I’m sure there’s a lion out there! As a door turns back and forth on its hinges, so the lazy person turns over in bed. Some people are so lazy that they won’t lift a finger to feed themselves. Lazy people consider themselves smarter than seven wise counselors.” (Proverbs 23: 13-16) When we look at lazy people, we often believe that they have no motivation or drive to succeed or achieve things in life. We wonder how co-workers can be so unmotivated. We wonder why our children seem to simply not care about things we deem important. The lazy person is often extremely confident in his distorted form of wisdom and the rationale for his actions. Some lazy people might say, “Why work so hard when at the end the government will take my earnings?” Others may suggest that when we work hard we are falsely buying into the capitalist ideal, and that in the end all that hard work achieves is to suppress people and drive them to debt. Some people are lazy because their lives lack purpose and meaning. They are unable to see beyond the present moment. They wake up to see today no differently than yesterday or tomorrow. Today becomes just another routine they have mastered. They will do as little as is necessary to achieve the same result they did yesterday. A lazy person cannot grasp any significance in doing more than what is absolutely necessary. The other side of the coin is the workaholic who sacrifices health and family for riches, only to spend that wealth in a futile attempt to recoup their health and mend their family. The “hard worker,” as that person often labels him/her self, is only motivated by how much they have accumulated or achieved. They are so driven by that motivation that they fail to see beyond the present. I want to suggest that finding balance is the key to being able to see beyond today. Balance helps motivate us to be all that we were created to be. Balance allows us to provide for our loved ones without abandoning them. Balance allows us to achieve the goals set forth by our employer while taking time for ourselves. Balance allows us please our creator. When we find a balance that makes us as productive as we should be while providing a healthy and safe place for our loved ones, we become an example for our families and others. Lord, allow me to be all that you created me to be, and help me not to be so driven that I lose all that that is dear to me. Meditation: How can we balance our lives so that we are neither lazy nor overly ambitious? Jorge L. Valdes, Ph.D.
|