The slow motion feature is often used in the film industry to put emphasis on a person or action to bring additional attention to it for various reasons. This affect now affectionately call slow-mo., was invented by a priest from Austria named August Musger in the early 20th century when film was making its debut. Briefly stated, this is accomplished when the frames are created at a very fast speed, then played back at a normal to slow speed. There are many more scientific aspects that go into this feature that I cannot explain, and the process has gone through several metamorphosis since its inception. What was once achieved using camera and a projector, is now being done employing computer software. This is often used in the sports arena, when a play is in dispute and needs to be watched repeatedly to ascertain the correct call or when a record breaking play has been made that is so phenomenal that it warrants a slow motion replay to fully grasp and appreciate that moment in time. It can also be used in various settings to create the mood or atmosphere of a show or scene, such as a romantic or suspenseful occurrence in the story. It is also used in photography to capture something in a still shot, that could not normally be caught in real time without being blurred, unless by video because of the moving parts.
The sloth is a unique mammal. Their name is closely related to slow, literally meaning, ‘laziness’. Though they can swim which could give them an advantage over some predators, they are useless on the ground. Their slowness is somewhat due to their low energy diet of herbs and foliage, but it does allow them to escape detection of hawks and cats who are looking for movement. Their coat which is shaggy, and course is a breeding ground for green algae. This offers them nutrients as well as camouflage and a home for sloth moths. They are most closely related to anteaters. They are thought to be indigenous to South America from the rainforests. They have poor hearing and vision and must rely heavily upon their sense of smell to find food. They hang upside down most of the time, which is made possible by their special hands and feet. They give birth, eat, sleep, and die hanging upside down. It is said that they move only when necessary, and even at that, very slowly. They spend most of their time alone except when mating. Their babies learn what they should eat by licking their mother’s lips. This makes perfect sense since they might starve to death if they had to give their babies an actual hunting lesson!
Though a Slug is the name for any shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc aka shell-less snail, the use of ‘sluggard’ in the scriptures is equated to the sloth. The dictionary definition of sluggard is a habitually lazy person. Synonyms given are, couch potato, deadbeat, do-nothing, drone, idler, lay about, lazybones, loafer, lotus-eater, slouch, and slug. The scriptures are admonishing us to be the opposite of these things, because if not, we will find ourselves wanting at the end of the day. Proverbs 13:4 says, “The soul of the sluggard desires, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.” Proverbs 6:1-11 the writer instructs, “My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her meat in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So, shall thy poverty come as one that travels, and thy want as an armed man.”
The description in Proverbs 6 given to the son, of the ant having no guide, overseer, or ruler, yet still she provides her meat in the summer and gathers it in the harvest, is not indicating that this is a renegade, a ‘rebel without a cause’ with no director or boss, and is subordinate to authority, but rather reminds me of the expression that my children now use very frequently, namely, ‘adulting’. Now that they are all out of the house, they have realized that if they do not do it, it will not get done. There is now no mom or dad to come behind them and pick up after them or to even prompt them to do anything. This of course can be a blessing or a curse, depending on one’s maturity level and attitude toward life. As the writer of Proverbs stated, if you laze around all the time before you know it, you will have a crisis on your hands and become overwhelmed quickly. Those who do this are often so surprised that they have such a messy house, or there is nothing in the refrigerator to eat, or the grass is so long, or the roof is falling in, etc. Ecclesiastes 10:18 says, “By much slothfulness the building decays; and through idleness of the hands the house drops through.” This is quite a literal verse and is a disaster of one’s own making, beginning with the decision to be idle or lazy.
The point I would like to discuss in this article some may find obvious, however, there may be those who will have a lightbulb moment. Procrastination and mediocrity are bedfellows. I will also make the leap to say that if you choose to procrastinate, you are therefore also choosing to be mediocre. That should smart a little. If it does, I hope it will lead not only to contemplation but that it will affect change as well. Before we continue, let us look at a few words as defined by the dictionary. Firstly, bedfellow means, “one who shares a bed with another, or a person or thing closely associated with another: ALLY such as political bedfellows”. We will be discussing the second meaning. Synonyms are abettor, ally, supporter, or sympathizer. Secondly, Pact, especially an international treaty, “Pact has “peace” at its root because a pact often ends a period of unfriendly relations. It can be used for any solemn agreement or promise between two people; after all, whenever two parties shake hands on a deal, they’re not about to go to war with each other. Synonyms are, accord, alliance, convention, covenant, treaty.” Thirdly, agreement means, “Harmony of opinion, action, or character, the act or fact of agreeing, an arrangement as to a course of action, a treaty or trade agreement, or the language or instrument embodying a contract.”
Fourthly, procrastinate means, “to put off intentionally and habitually. It comes from the Latin prefix pro, meaning “forward,” and crastinus, “of tomorrow.” The word means moving or acting slowly so as to fall behind, and it implies blameworthy delay especially through laziness or apathy.” Fifthly, mediocrity means, “the quality or state of being mediocre, moderate ability or value, Similar to, Ordinariness, commonplaceness, lack of inspiration, passableness, adequacy, indifference, inferiority, amateurism, nonentity, nobody, lightweight, cipher, or second-rater.” Sixthly, poverty means, “The state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions, beggarly, destituteness, destitution, impecuniousness, impoverishment, indigence, neediness, pauperism, poorness or want.”
It takes about five to ten minutes on average to fold and put away a load of laundry, yet many people live with loads of laundry on their beds, couches, or floors, searching through the piles daily for that certain something they want to wear, until they finally cannot figure out what is clean or dirty anymore and must rewash all the clothes, and thus the cycle begins again. Matthew 6:34 tells us, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” A lazy person, therefore, by extension, a procrastinator might say, ‘Yay’ to this verse and say, “See, I told you so, I don’t have to worry about a thing.” To which I would respond, “True, you do not have to worry, however, not so fast, let us see a little more of the context of this verse.” Jesus begins this thought in verse 24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” All procrastinators please note the verb in this statement is ‘to serve’, which denotes something we must do. Let us continue with the reading, “Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things.” This is a beautiful promise and not to be taken lightly, however, the next verse, which is right before our original verse, is number 33, which begins with a ‘but’. So, as a recap, we do not have ‘to worry’, but we do have to pick one master ‘to serve’, and verse 33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Herein lies another verb that requires action from us, which follows the ‘but’, and that is ‘to seek’.
With that in mind, here is something to contemplate using our example of the laundry. If we take the five or ten minutes to employ the verb, ‘to fold’, even though we know there will be more laundry tomorrow, we do not have to continue to worry about it, or where we are going to seat ourselves or guests that may arrive, or if we will have clean clothes to wear the next day to work or school. This is what Jesus was saying. Each day will have its own challenges, but if we take care of one day at a time, as best we know how, we can have the assurance that all will be well. If we are in the service of the Lord, He will take care of everything that is out of our control. Jesus continues in Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.” Here again, we are excited about the promises, however, let us note again the three verbs. The action required on our part is, ‘To ask, to seek and to knock’, then we will, ‘receive, find, and it shall be opened’ unto us. James 4:1-3 states, “From whence come wars and fighting among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” Though we want so much, we don’t have anything because we won’t even ask, much less work, and when we do, we have not taken the first step as discussed, choosing whom you will serve.
Proverbs 15:19 says, “The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.” Proverbs 21:25 says, “The desire of the slothful kills him; for his hands refuse to labor.” Overlooking the fact that most procrastinators are just that because they have become masters at making excuses and justifying themselves, let us look at another aspect. Many people may say that they do not understand the scriptures when they read them, especially in the King James Version of the bible. If we were to put some of these proverbs regarding slothfulness into 21st century lingo, would we be able to grasp the message any more clearly? The New International Version for the two verses we just looked at says, Proverbs 15:19, “The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.” And Proverbs 21:25, “The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.” No guessing work is needed here, these are plainly written. Let’s look at a few more while we are in this mode. Proverbs 19:15, “Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless go hungry.” Proverbs 12:27 says, “The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.” I kind of like how the King James Version writes this one, “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious.” Wow, the procrastinator, aka lazy person has hunted, or worked, they have the food right there, but because of their laziness, will not cook it so you can eat a healthy meal. They would rather go get fast food or eat a load of junk food which will ultimately be the death of your health. I know we all have our moments of laziness, but remember, we are talking about those who habitually put things off until they just don’t get done at all.
This brings us to Proverbs 12:24 in the New International Version, “Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.” And from the King James Version, “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.” This is where our bedfellow of mediocrity sneaks into the equation. Have you ever heard anyone say, “Yes, I know I’m qualified for that new management position at my job that was posted, but I don’t think I’m going to apply. It will be so much more work.” I have heard this many times. All the while you have those on the other side of the coin saying, “I sure wish I had the required degree; I would apply in a heartbeat for that new management position at my job that just posted. I know I have the experience and I know I could do it. It would be a great challenge and boost to my career.” This is such a sad scenario; however, I have seen the latter, surpass the former because of their ‘go get ‘em’ attitude and their willingness to work hard. Even though their social status, IQ, knowledge, or qualifications may not be as great, they are far more superior in worth to any company because of their work ethic. If you settle for less than what you could be, could do, or could have, you are entertaining an attitude of mediocrity and will be just as the definition of the word implies, ordinary, commonplace, adequate, inferior, amateur, and a nonentity. You by default, because of your habitual laziness, aka procrastination, have made a pact and an agreement with mediocrity. You have drawn your own line in the sand that marks the end of your road to achieving anything more than you already have in your life, with a high probability of you losing all that you already have attained.
Jesus said in John 4:35, “Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” We must stop waiting on others to do everything, or better timing, better weather, better circumstances, etc. Jesus said now is the time! I know the bed is probably getting pretty full by now with all these fellows, however, there is one more that was already there long before procrastination and mediocrity though you may not have noticed, and that is indecisiveness. You do have the choice to get up and do something now. You do have the choice to ‘be all you can be’! You do have the choice to be the one to speak up for what is right! You do have the choice to better yourself. You do have the choice to break the chains of addictions, oppression and depression that has had your family bound for years! Do not use the excuses and arguments for justification that you don’t have a choice, or you were born this way, or one person can’t make a difference, and so on and so forth. Jesus says, “Lift up your eyes…now is the time to reap your harvest.” Jesus also has a clear opinion regarding indecisiveness that has got it’s grasp on you. He said to the church in Laodicea, Revelation 3:14-19, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and you know not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore, and repent.” Though others can readily see it, the procrastinator is often blind to the fact that they are wallowing in the mire of despair crafted by their own lack of inspiration, desire, and vision. They have sunk so low that they do not even notice how others around them are succeeding, achieving, and moving forward contently.
We need to lift up our eyes and repent of our mediocrity as Jesus stated. See what is really taking place around us and in our lives, and what we have become, and begin the process of change. I read a quote that a friend of mine posted on social media recently, by John Mason, that reads like this, “Mediocrity is a region bound on the North by compromise, on the South by indecision, on the East by past thinking, and on the West by lack of vision.” Proverbs 29:18 states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he.” We must lift up our eyes, look at the map of our lives and regain our bearings. What do we see to the north, south, east, and west of us? Do we like what we see? Change is challenging, but we can all achieve change if we take it one day at a time. If procrastination means to “put off things intentionally and habitually”, why don’t we form new habits intentionally. Get out of that dirty, stale bed with all those stinky complacent bedfellows, and chart a new course on your map of life today! Our new motto as we forge ahead will be, “Why put off for tomorrow, what we can get done today!”