Words of wisdom

Hard work

Something to read

I passed by the field of one who was lazy, by the vineyard of a stupid person; and see, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior …

The lazy person says, 'There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!' As a door turns on its hinges, so does a lazy person in bed. The lazy person buries a hand in the dish, and is too tired to bring it back to the mouth. The lazy person is wiser in self-esteem than seven who can answer discreetly.
Proverbs 24:30-34; 26:13-16 (NRSV)

Something to think about

Sometimes the proverbs show what life is like, sometimes they show what life is not like but ought to be, and sometimes their point is made by exaggerating so much that we are shocked (or amused) into working out the truth for ourselves. It is usually easy to work out which is which, but it does mean that we have to read the Bible wisely.

For instance, look through these proverbs trying to see them not through your own eyes but through someone else's. How might they aggrieve or give hope to:

• someone who is unable to find paid employment,

• someone whose hard work is rewarded with an unfairly low wage,

• someone who feels trapped in an unfulfilling job,

• someone whose main activity is unpaid hard work?

What would you say to someone who suggested that poor people get that way because they are lazy?

Something to do

Tackle a chore today that you have been putting off for a long time - and then give yourself a reward!

Something to pray

God give me work till my life shall end,
And life till my work is done.

On the grave of the novelist Winifred Holtby (1898-1935)