How a Little Slumber Creates Big Excuses

A little slumber has a way of sneaking up on you and stealing your best intentions. When you put it off, you make room for excuses, and excuses put a stop to your momentum and motivation for pursuing your possibilities. If you want to get to your BIG DREAM goals then you will have to put a stop to the little slumbers.

From Proverbs 24: 30 – 34

I went to the field of the lazy man, the man devoid of understanding. It was all overgrown with thorns and weeds. I received instruction and revelation from what I saw. “With a little slumber– slack and languid attitude – and a little slumber or just a little folding of the hands (a sign of debt), poverty will overcome like the weeds and thorns and attack like an armed prowler.

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I had committed to tithing my time. When you take a moment to do the straight math, it comes down to 2.4 hours (or 144 minutes or 2 hours and 24 minutes, depending on how you want to look at it).

I made a grand morning plan to get up early so I could get my time tithe in first thing. I could do it if I worked it out just right.

*Note to self: when you make a grand morning plan, be sure you account for the time required to get your youngest to the classes you just signed him up to attend*

It’s easy to commit to something when you don’t have other things crowding the way. The added obligations (forgotten when the plan was designed) challenged my tithe plan right out of the gate.

I set the alarm a little earlier, and all would have been well, only the Government steals your morning every year, and they usually wait until my morning wake-up is just starting to coincide with the rising sun. What would have been a delightful break of dawn wake-up was suddenly plunged back into darkness.

Have you tried getting up at the darkest hour? It is not fun. Even the early birds think you’ve lost your mind.

Tithing my time and getting my son to his designated classes pushed my resolve in both places. I think it comes tougher to do what you know you should do when you have other things crowding the deadline . . . or maybe it just becomes easier to find an excuse.

Reading the Proverbs has long been part of my morning ritual, so when the struggle became its toughest, I stumbled over this Proverbs nugget of wisdom. It was the perfect reminder that the excuses will show up – ALWAYS and usually en masse. The excuses will do all they can to distract us. The excuses may even be disguised as reasonable.

The truth is there is always a choice, no matter what the excuses might portray.

Choosing a Little Slumber

• • A little slacking off, and I’ll be behind the eight ball before I even start the game. You can wait until tomorrow, but you will be waiting. The only way to get there is to start now – because now is the only time you have to start.

• • A little slumber, and I won’t be able to finish Scripture reading and prayer time before I have to take my son. You can hit the snooze button but know that each snooze steals time from your next step.

• A little folding of the hands, and I won’t get ahead of where I have been (and will probably end up even further behind. The goal should be to owe no man but to love him because that frees you up to live bold in all of your possibilities.

It turns out the little bits add up in the wrong way even faster than they add up in the right way. And if the little bits are going to add up no matter what, then make the choice to add up the positive ones.

If you are going to reach your BIG DREAM goals and pursue your possibilities, then you will have to be careful not to fall into the trap of excuses provided by the little slumbers.

Be blessed,

Live a Life of Wisdom

Practical Proverbs offers simple ideas – pulled from the Wisdom of the Proverbs – to live a life of peace, joy, and encouragement.