In Paul's second letter to the church in Thessolonica he warns the Christians there about hanging out with followers of Jesus who are living in idleness, and since laziness is one of my key struggles in life, it hit me right between the eyes this cold fall Monday morning.
Idleness is so easy. It is physics, for crying out loud. An body at rest will remain at rest until some outside force causes it to move. I often find myself at rest, and not much in the mood to get moving. The trash might need to go out, but my chair is much more comfortable. The baby might be fussing, but the Steeler highlight is coming up next on SportsCenter. The elementary school might need help mowing the grass, but my evenings are already pretty full. Morning Prayer beckons every day, but the act of saying a corporate service by myself feels silly. The excuses for my idleness go on and on and on.
There is, however, and outside force at work. Jesus, who after his resurrection called on his disciples to meet him where he had gone on ahead, is always just ahead of me, calling me to follow, to get up, to keep moving.
We have a saying in our household, "Laziness creates more work." And its true. You always end up fixing the mistake you made in your laziness AND doing the task you originally had to do anyway. So this morning, in the spirit of Paul, I'm praying for my tendency toward idleness to be taken away and for the Spirit of God to propel me ever forward.
2 comments:
I appreciate your thoughts here -- and yet I also think there is a kind of spiritual idleness, that God may call us at times to do nothing, to rest. Our society is so full of compulsive activity -- as is the church sometimes. My friend and colleague Kirk Byron Jones writes a lot about this in his book Rest in the Storm and another about to come out, Say Yes to Grace.
I totally agree Margaret and it is a constant struggle here at St. Paul's between being another voice crying out "do more" and a force for silence and listening. I will check out the books you mention, perhaps they can shine some light on the quest for balance.
Thank you for commenting.
Post a Comment