Diligence

"The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, 

while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied." Proverbs 13:4 (ESV)

The past 150 plus days have been challenging to say the least. I remember wanting to write here more. My time was spent caring for my sweet family and working a lot. I quickly realized that if I didn't take care of myself, I wouldn't last. 

I became diligent to take care of myself. Why diligence? Diligence is steady and careful application, proper attention or care. Diligence is the degree of care required in a given situation. 

My given situation was not simple but worthy of diligent effort on my part. I was working full-time, in and out of my home and the kids needed to complete their online learning. The house needed to be cleaned. All our food needed to be cooked. I also knew I had to take care of my health instead of letting go of my nutrition and fitness goals. 

I made up my mind to be diligent. I would set goals for each one of those areas and I would apply myself steadily and carefully. Here's what diligence looked like in the mentioned areas:

Work - I decided to do my best during work hours. I decided to fully focus on each task at hand. I decided to remember that I could stop and continue to work the following day. 

Kids school - I decided I was not going to be school junior. I'm one person. At school, my kids have access to multiple professionals to help help them. I'm one person. I decided to do my best to help them but I knew I was never going to measure up to the help they get a school. This simple thought freed me to be myself and to help them the best I could. I created a schedule for the kids to complete their work. I reminded them to work hard and have fun later. Thank God, they worked hard and finished well. 

Housekeeping - I can write about this topic endlessly. I will tell you about my linen closet. It was driving me crazy for 150-something days. It was disorganized and (surprise) I didn't have time to clean it. I realized that we were not using that closet as much as we used other areas of our home. I left the linen closet alone and focused my energy on the rest of the house. I also realized that my kids can actually help me to get the house cleaned. I counted on their help and we all enjoyed our home as a result. The week before the kids went back to school, I was able to find some extra time. I decided to dedicate it to the linen closet. It is now clean and organized. The big lesson was to focus on the areas we all used. Ask for help. Wait until there is extra time to dedicate to projects such as a closet most people will never see.

Food - my husband and I took turns cooking for the family. He is so good, I wonder why we ever consider going out to eat. We created a menu and we truly enjoyed all our family meals. It took diligence to create a menu, shop for the ingredients and actually cook the food. The result of diligence in this area meant family togetherness. 

Health - I decided to take my health seriously by attending WW virtual meetings and putting in the effort to care for my health. It was hard but I got healthier during covid. I will always remember this experience as my "I can" season. I can succeed although life seems uncertain. I can take care of my health despite stressful times. I can because I want to be healthier to serve God and my family. 

Fitness - this actually kept sane. I've always said running is for sanity not vanity. I enjoyed getting out and just running for fun. 

Is there an area of your life that needs proper attention and care? I suggest diligence. It is a concept that can't be bought. You need to decide you want it bad enough to take steps towards succeeding. I am here to tell you that no matter how difficult the circumstances around you, you can thrive with diligence inside you.