Idleness

^"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness."  Proverbs 31: 27 

This one hurts my toes.  I can feel them being stepped all over and it hurts!  I mean, I do not consider myself lazy or even idle, and I feel exactly the same as you do when the rare occassion comes around to sit and read a magazine article or do anything else that makes me happy and is not actively productive. 

So what is idleness?  Think about a car.  When a car is idle it is still running, but it isn't going anywhere.  You can hear the engine, it is using gas (energy) but it is accomplishing NOTHING, unless it is an old fashioned car like mine.  Then it is spewing pollution into the air as well. 

We could consider our idleness the same way.  If we are taking time for ourselves and we are being renewed and rested, then we ARE accomplishing something.  With the right balance, this is NECESSARY to being productive. A car is not idle if it is being maintenanced, even though it is not accomplishing its purpose.  It HAS to be taken care of to work properly.  However,  if your Facebook and blog hopping time turns into hours and responsibilities ( the affairs of your household) are not taken care of, then you have been idle. 

Idle = accomplishing nothin of value.  If we are idling, we are just asking for Satan to come along and direct our energy toward evil.  Incidently, time in God's word in any form is NEVER idleness.  Something is most definitely being accomplished.  So, next time you feel guilty, consider if you are truly being idle.  Next time everything does not get done, seek out where  you were idle, or if you were,  and make a point to change it.