I saw my first Sloth while traveling down the potholed Panamanian Highway! It was so sad…my heart ached to pick it up and lift it safely into the tree it was approaching. Toiling with every move, the poor little thing seemed lonely and abandoned. I wanted to hurry its journey along, be a good servant and speed him on his way. He sluggishly lifted his head and peered up at me…I imagined he was beckoning me for help. However, his long claws and musty smell rendered him unapproachable. His coat was matted and green…greasy looking… which only accentuated the stifling heat and humidity where we stood. His slow motion gave new definition to idleness! He seemed so needy. I just wanted to fix it!
Have you ever been there?
What do you think of when you look at this mammal?
I envisioned something creeping up on him while he was sleeping and his not being able to defend himself. The sloth, I understand, sleeps 15 hours day and night! This motionless mammal is so still that the moths move into his thick hair! He hangs upside down 90% of his life cycle and eating is his primary occupation. When food becomes scarce, he goes hungry…a sloth will die of starvation if food is not always within grasp!!
“Slothfulness brings deep sleep; and an idle soul
will suffer hunger” Proverbs 19: 15.
I love to study the world of nature for insights and analogies. As I watched this mild-mannered sloth struggle to move, I realized there is a lesson to be learned.
In extraordinary times God looks for extraordinary men and women that He can count on. This remnant does not need great intellect, talent, or resources. But they do need to be obedient moving channels through which God can show himself strong.II Cor. 12: 9-10
For most of us the enemy of disobedience is the willful rebellion of crippling slothfulness. It is crippling because its subtle characteristics are usually unrecognized until the pattern of laziness is set!
Would you consider yourself a slothful person?
As mom’s, we don’t like to think of ourselves as being lazy!
Our lives are busy from sun-up to sundown….
But listen to the 6 symptoms of a slothful mom:
Ø She hears God’s Word and walks away with no change (she doesn’t believe she has a need)
Ø She does not seek the Lord with her whole heart (she has become guilty of little surrenders)
Ø She does not value the importance of time (she rationalizes and procrastinates)
Ø She does not finish tasks (she may be a great starter but a poor finisher)
Ø She lives in wishful thinking and vain imaginations (she’s a dreamer; not a doer)
Ø She forgets where she came from and is self-deceived Jas. 1:22-24. (she lives in fear)
Life is a race against time. We are called to be “doers of the Word”.
All is not lost! We still can win the race
if we realize the following truths about respecting time:
§ Time is limited! (Make the most of what is left!)
Do you procrastinate? Do you live for the moment and let the future just take its course?
§ Time has a certain deadline…Death! What will your legacy be?
Are you a person of example or excuses? Are you spiritually prepared?
“It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment…” Heb.9: 27.
§ God determines our days and time is short!
Are you busy with the task on God’s heart? Are your children prepared?
“The length of our days is seventy years or eighty,
if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass and we fly away”.
Psalm 90:10.
We are moms with a purpose and destiny!
How committed are we to eternal purposes?
§ Days must be counted. (1 week has 168 hours!)
How much time do we spend eating, sleeping, playing, activities, on social media…?
How much is left for productive work? Meditation, Reading the Word, Prayer…?
“So, teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom”
Psalm 90:12.
§ Our time requires accountability. (1 week has 168 hours!)
Do you rationalize your need to be held accountable?
§ Time is given with purpose for God’s Work.
Are you busy with the task on God’s heart?
Or are you preoccupied with your own busy life?
“…The night cometh, when no man can work” John 9: 4
We cannot recover lost time!
When its gone…its gone!!
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is discipling and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
