Don’t Feel Like It? – Proverbs in Practice
Our next proverb, former procrastinators, states facts poetically, as do many of them.
“Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.” Proverbs 20:13.
The Lord gives His beloved sleep; we should enjoy it. The connotation here is that if we habitually choose sleep – laziness – over diligence, we will come to lack. Sooner or later we’ll end up there. The life-sustaining things we need will not magically appear before our eyes. “Open eyes” connotes living in reality – we work for what we need.
Work because it’s the right thing to do and the right time to do it. We do not work because we feel motivated.
My dad was an excellent example of diligence and I’m grateful. Happy Father’s Day to dads who day after day report to work no matter how they feel. They’re faithful. Thank you!
It strikes me that none of the proverbs so far talks about how we feel. They talk about diligence and rewards, laziness and consequences. It’s action or inaction and what results. Sometimes we see feeling connected to laziness (“love sleep”) but nothing about feeling related to diligence.
Diligence does not require feeling. This is SO freeing!
I recall “I don’t feel like taking out the garbage.” “That’s okay. You don’t have to feel like it. Just do it.” I tell myself that often. Somebody once told me most of the work in this world is done by people who don’t feel like it. Good thing.
It is not necessary to feel motivated in order to do something. The woman who allows herself to be ruled by her feelings is like a city with broken down walls. (Proverbs 25:28) God designed us with feelings. They’re important and we need to pay attention to them when it’s appropriate. We do not give them free reign over us. That’s living unprotected, unprovided for. It’s reckless. To think we must feel motivated to do what needs doing is believing a lie.
An author once told me he did not wait for inspiration to write. He said if he did that, he’d be inspired to go fishing. Instead, he sat at his desk at 8 a.m. every day and started typing no matter what he felt like. That’s diligence.
To be diligent when we feel unmotivated, use mini habits. Doing a little opens the door for more accomplishment. We can make ourselves do a little because it requires very little of us. One push up, two pages in a book move us along the road of continuing success. I believe author Stephen Guise was often referring to diligence when he spoke of will power. Doing a little requires no real will power. Yet doing a little builds our diligence muscle. And we’re on our way! (Will Power, the Good Guy )
Don’t feel like it? No problem!
What do you do regularly that you rarely feel like doing? Good for you!
