Nothing ever comes to one that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

I LOVE TO SLEEP.

Sometimes, when I lie down in my bed at night, I just smile and wiggle my toes and think how thankful I am for sleep. It is so good.

And warm baths—love those too.

Oh, and curling up in my white comfy chair, sipping tea (sometimes coffee), and just letting my bones relax.

Relax. Curl up. Sleep. I could live like this 24-7. But it’s not much of a life, and my home would fall apart and my children would essentially raise themselves, because my husband works full-time. You know, if I just lived comfortably . . . If I just let laziness have its way in me . . .

If I just chose to be selfish.

That’s right, selfish. Because let’s face it, the root of laziness is selfishness (which we’ll talk about tomorrow). We’re not talking about being genuinely tired—that’s legit. We’re talking about just not wanting to do anything.

I don’t want to be a lazy person! I want to be diligent; I want to be wise and faithful with my time and the talents God has given me. I must push back daily on the Curse and choose to work. Work is good.

Today, I’m going to choose to be diligent. I’m going to choose to have authority over these lazy bones and accept the fact that life is hard and it wasn’t meant to be easy. We live in a world wrapped in sin, and so we must fight; we must remain faithful. We press on, remembering the goal: to live with eternity in mind.

We work so there is order and so we can eat and live, but we also work so we can become like Jesus and love others well.

We choose to lift up our work to heaven. We choose to let the Holy Spirit have His way in us, making us humble and willing to serve. We choose to create beauty out of chaos in order to love those who need a soft place to land.

It really is all a choice—the choice to surrender to the One who will work through us.

I can relate to all of you out there who struggle with laziness and a lack of motivation to clean.

Like you, it’s not that I don’t like having a clean, peaceful home; it’s that I find cleaning terribly boring. However, since cleaning is part of life, it must be done or life becomes chaotic and stressful (if not for us, for those around us). Here are some tips to help you get into perseverance mode (aka a cleaning groove):

• Read over your mission statement (you should probably do this every morning).
• “Put shoes on your feet,” says the FlyLady.[1] I confirm that when I put on sneakers it actually helps—you feel like you should move when you have sneakers on.
• Do the hardest thing first. You know that chore that feels like a mountain? For me it’s the kitchen . . . and laundry . . . and . . . Climb it before you do anything else. Once you “eat that frog” everything else will seem like a molehill.[2]
• Play music and dance while you clean.
• Get your kiddos involved and make it fun. Have a competition to see who can clean different rooms the fastest—and award some type of prize to the winner.
• Remind yourself how good it feels to be in a clean, inviting, peaceful environment.
• Consider the eternal value of your work.

READ PROVERBS 6:10-11; 12:24; AND 13:4.

What are some blessings you can see in choosing to work rather than giving in to your lazy bones? List some on the lines provided.

MARTHA CHALLENGE

TODAY YOU ARE TAKING CARE OF THE SECOND BEDROOM’S CLOSET!

You can do it! Clear out that closet, give stuff away, PURGE, BABY, PURGE!