“If you love sleep, you will end in poverty. Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat!” Proverbs 20:13 NLT
Ramble Warning!
I often tell people that I could win a gold medal in napping if it ever became an Olympic Sport. I love sleep, so shouldn’t I be poor? As a teen, my body grew so fast that I had the growing pains of leg cramps often. For a while, my mom thought I only ate and slept. I remember going through junior high and high school constantly feeling tired. Once I hit my college years I was up early, working, going to school, and staying up late with homework and friend conversations. While in college I was a school bus driver at 19 years old! In between my route pickups I learned to take 10 minute naps. Parked by the side of the road, I would sit in the drivers seat, and take a quick nap. I got so good at it that I didn’t need an alarm, I just woke up refreshed and ready to go. They call it a power nap, but I saw it as a super power!
I write all this to say, this is not what this Proverb is talking about. This Proverb is among the collection of wisdom principles that deal with the fate of the sluggard! Isn’t the word “sluggard,” a visibly-visceral word. A very slow, oozing worm. Its cousin is to be slothful. Pour Sloth, they can’t help it. Both are wonderful word pictures of how NOT to do life! To quote Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Life does move fast, but do you know what moves even faster? Opportunity! The point of these Proverbs is to not let a sleepy, slothful, sluggish eye or way of life rob you of the good things God has in store for you. One commentator said it well, “Open your eyes – Be vigilant and active. That is the secret of prosperity.”
Being an enneagram nine, with its shadow sin of SLOTHFULNESS, means that indecision and peace at all cost oftentimes leaves a person like me – STUCK. Frozen! Trapped by indecision. And, more times than I care to admit, a nap seemed the only way to save my sanity. I could not make a decision so I put myself on pause, my own personal time out. And in that beautiful, blissful, insulated world, I was free from the pain of making the wrong decision or a decision that seemed to cause someone pain. To the outside world it would be seen as though I was being a sluggard, a sloth. I was just defending myself from difficult decisions.
I have been on a journey to push against my sins, my fears, my tendencies to avoid or shut down. It’s still very hard. For those of you who have been mislabeled as lazy, slothful or a sluggard, I understand. Be patient with yourself as you grow and learn to lean into those tough indecisive moments. Sure, take a power nap if needed. Then, ask God for wisdom and make the decision. Just keep moving forward!
Prayer
Dad,
It was certainly a shock to discover you made me this way on purpose! I don’t like being overwhelmed with indecision or feeling the deep pain of being misunderstood when a decision must be made. And, I did feel far more at ease with retreating into myself than I did boldly asking for wisdom. It has been difficult to make the hard choices and decisions that come so fast in life. Yet, where I am weak you have promised to be my strength, and in my weakness your power is made perfect.