Hope for Stubborn People!

This morning I was talking to my kids about Proverbs 12:27. 

"A slothful man does not roast his prey, But the precious possession of a man is diligence."

Of course, I want my kids to be diligent, so I thought it was important to go over this as we finish up our year. It's usually when I talk with my kids about something that I see more than I did before.

Success is not about ability

The slothful man actually had some prey. He had something to work with, but it didn't matter.

He was either too lazy to do anything about it, or he didn't recognize the potential of what he had in his hands. I began to wonder how many times I had missed out because I didn't see the potential under my nose. 

Diligence is a precious possession

Being able to stick to something and not give up is a precious possession. It's more valuable than ability, connections, looks, personality, or intelligence. How many times have we heard of the tortoise and the hare? The tortoise represents diligence. The hare represents ability. There are limitations to ability, but diligence doesn't have limitations unless you quit.

Application

Groan. It's nice when things come easy. But people who experience easy success usually don't achieve the success they have the potential for because they don't cultivate the diligence necessary to keep going when it's not fun or easy. So when you're stubborn in the right way, it's a good thing. Be stubborn about being diligent!

So what did I learn today?

1. Be diligent, even when you don't feel like it. Just the act of being diligent is precious beyond anything you can gain by it.

2. Teach your kids to be diligent, or you'll spend your life running around picking up after them, and they'll be hampered forever by their own laziness. 

3. If the baby is spitting up, hand it to someone else. (This doesn't have anything to do with diligence, but is good advice anyway unless you like to be gooey.)