Keep Your Eyes Open to See Success

There are a lot of people out there that love to complain.  They complain that life has dealt them a bad hand and blame fate for their problems.  They complain that they can’t get ahead in their career and blame others for their lack of success.  They complain that nothing works out for them and blame just about anything they can.  Sometimes they complain loudly, other times they complain quietly.  But often, they don’t blame the party that’s responsible for their lack of success: themselves.

Sure there are times when you truly have been dealt a bad hand.  There are events that are totally outside of your control.  But we can always control our response to those influences, and we can always change some aspects to adapt to those that we can’t change.

“Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.” Proverbs 20:13 ESV

Controllable vs. Uncontrollable

If you remember from a few weeks ago, I wrote a reaction to Josh Medcalf’s chapter in Chop Wood Carry Water about partially controllable events.  If you didn’t read it, take a look here.

Too often, as humans, we try to control what we cannot, and we ignore what we can.  In essence, I try to change the things I don’t like instead of adapting so that my life can flow seamlessly with events outside of my control.

Love not Sleep…

American’s are lazy.  We want things done for us, we want to relax, and we want to be spoon fed our entertainment.  Just look at what we do after dinner.  Most of us don’t sit down and read a book, we turn on the TV.  Most of us don’t get our news from the paper anymore, we get it from video.  Most of us don’t exercise creativity; instead we exercise our thumbs on a game controller.

When Proverbs is talking telling us don’t love sleep or you’ll end up poor, it goes a bit further than just loving sleep.  We are reminded that laziness leads to poverty.

Open your eyes…

There once was a time when bread was slang for money.  We can interpret this as having plenty of money.

The idea isn’t that we just have to stay awake.  In essence, we are told that if you’re going to be lazy and self-loathing, then don’t be surprised when poverty comes your way.  But if you’ll open your eyes, be alert, and be ready to take on projects and work hard, then money and bread will be plentiful.

There’s nothing wrong with making money.  There’s nothing wrong with making a lot of money.  What becomes wrong is when you start valuing that money more than what truly matters.  If you’re sacrificing relationships with God and family because you’re chasing money, then you’re going to have a bad time.

Chase God, Serve People, Profits will Follow

God should occupy the number one spot.  After that, humans should be taken care of.  If you do the right thing, because it’s the right thing, then the money will come.  Stay true to your values and your commitments, and live a fulfilled life.

[ctt template=”1″ link=”u60VJ” via=”no” ]“Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.” Proverbs 20:13 ESV[/ctt]