Proverbs 6: 6-11

Today read Proverbs 6:6-11.

Have you or your kids ever had an ant farm? They are fascinating. We all know that ants are known for working hard. They lift huge loads, they march, march, march all in line. I am not prone to laziness in all areas of my life....but I am prone to laziness in some areas. I'll be the first to admit that quilting and blogs are very distracting to me. 

 Does verse 10 mean that we shouldn't ever rest?  I am not a cat person, so forgive me those that are. But this verse makes me think of cats. How they just lay there, opening an eye and looking at you as if to say, "ok, I'll get up after I have another nap."
 I do remember times in the past where I have gotten too much sleep. Times when I was bored, had nothing to do...(like when I was pregnant and had to be careful how much activity I did), I would feel so horrible if I slept too much. It felt so much better the days that I got up and moved around and did what I could. 

Does verse 11 mean that poor people are lazy? Ummm, no. I have seen wealthy that barely lifted a finger and poor men that worked more than one job just to get by paycheck to paycheck. I think this verse can be both literal and figurative speaking. A lazy person is certainly poor in spirit. They miss out on so much...family time, church time, hobbies. I know of one man that lost his family due to laziness. I'll tell you his story:

This family had a small, humble house out in the country. The house, as any older house did, needed repair work done over the years. But the husband never would lift a hand to do it. Besides mice being in the house, there were other critters as well. At night, you dare not walk across the floor without shoes or you would step on a slug. The walls in the morning were covered in bright, shiny slug slime.All the walls. One morning the wife went into the kitchen to find a nice large snake skin wrapped around the kitchen table legs. All around the outside walls, one could take a flashlight, shine it, and see the ground outside. The back door fell off, so the husband just nailed up some ugly plywood. 

One summer, the husband finally agreed to work on the house. They re-financed and got enough money to fix all the walls, replace floors, put in new carpet and re model the kitchen. The materials arrived in October and the husband stacked them outside. Where they sat all winter under rain and snow. Come April, they still sat. The house worsened, and the wife finally moved out with her children.She just felt like they could no longer live in these circumstances. The insurance company came and condemned the house one day and the husband, rather than fixing the old house, moved into his mothers house. The wife always hoped he would care enough to provide a home for his children, but he never did. 

That was me. I lived in that house. My children never could have friends over; it was too embarrassing and disgusting for all of us. Eventually we divorced and my ex husband still lives at his mother's house. Our home truly was condemned, and when we were divorced some 5 years after the children and I moved out, the house was sold to a construction company and my ex-husband actually had to write them a check. He lost money on the house/property.

Isn't that sad? I think it is so sad for him and for the example he sets for his son. 

Once again, please realize I don't tell my stories for you to judge or for you to sympathize with me. I can now think of ways that maybe I could have prevented this...I could have been more loving, respectful, supportive. But, this is the very best example I could think of when I read these verses. It all is very sad to me...and so very preventable.

Don't let laziness mess up a good thing. Quilting, reading, tv, computer time. They are ok in moderation. But don't let them get in the way of what should come first.

I think I need to go clean something now....