Thanks to a dear friend, I have had the privilege of taking piano lessons during the last few years. Through a mismanagement of time and basic laziness I find myself going from week to week with less and less practice time. That has had an interesting effect. I often find myself regressing in my technical abilities and having to set the metronome slower again in order to work up to the place where I once was but lost because of lack of discipline. I found myself embarrassed before my teacher and angry at myself for not having done what I should have.

It seems that this holds true in many areas of life. Laziness in my quiet time causes me to regress in my relationship with God. Laziness in cleaning the house causes me to have to work harder to clean it up later. I’ve found the proverb to be true: “Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.” (Pr. 12:24 – NIV) Through laziness I find that I’m a slave to the urgent and am unable to get things done that need to get done in the long run. What a wake-up call that is connected with something so pleasurable! Time to get back to work....