Story of Diligence

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

                 — Benjamin Franklin

Diligence, persistence, hard work, industriousness, commitment, stick-to-itiveness–whatever name you use, we all know what that stuff is. The word most often used by the Church is Stewardship. Unfortunately, when most people hear the word stewardship, they think of pledge campaigns and their weekly envelopes. Stewardship is really our diligence to the mission of the Church and Christ’s calling upon us as individuals, for we are all called to do the best we can with what we’ve been given. Time, talent, treasures – however God has equipped us, we are accountable for our application of those gifts. Diligence is a matter of applying ourselves to stories and challenges of this life. The Story of Diligence is necessarily the story of our successes, for it is diligence that keeps us at it – on track, on message, mission-focused – despite setbacks or momentary

failures. As Winston Churchill put it: “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

Our story involves movement from the deadly sin of Sloth toward the eternal virtue of Diligence.

Chapter One:
Born from Sloth

Any discussion of Sloth in the present day is of course incomplete without considering television, with its gifts of paralysis, along with its creature and symbiont, the notorious Couch Potato.  Tales spun in idleness find us Tubeside, supine, reenacting in reverse the transaction between dream and revenue that brought these colored shadows here to begin with so that we might feed, uncritically, committing the six other deadly sin in parallel, eating too much, envying the celebrated, coveting merchandise, lusting after images, angry at the news, perversely proud of whatever distanc we may enjoy between our couches and what appears on the screen.    –Thomas Pynchon

As we look at Sloth, we are going to make very clear that there is a real difference between simple laziness (inertia, lethargy, indolence) and Biblical Sloth, which involves patterns and attitudes of spiritual negligence. God desires that we should know the blessings of sabbath rest, but Americans are as likely to work themselves into overexhaustion(often in pursuit of unneeded things) as they are to simply do nothing at all.

We will learn what Sloth is from the parable of the Good Samaritan and with God’s help be restored to the love of diligence that He writes onto every one of our hearts. We are made to love our work as well as our play, and to balance a life of industry with the abundance. 

Chapters Two & Three: A Healthy Work Ethic

What does every one of us want and need in this life? Something to do, someone to love, and something to hope. The trick is balancing out the needs of our own lives with the needs of our companies and employers. How do we grow toward health of mind and soul – away from sloth and denial – which makes us happy with our working lives and fits our spirituality into each day’s purposes? The answer is a healthy work ethic, and whatever our place in life, there’s room for us to grow.

Chapters Four & Five:
Encouragement

Work, work, work: sometimes it feels like a plague and not a privilege. Besides, sometimes we get sick, or tired, or hurt, or there’s big trouble at home, and all these things can make our jobs feel heavier and harder. There are times when our freedoms feel like slavery and our blessings feel like huge burdens. Where do we find the strength to go on – and not just go on, but to keep at it with all the joy and purposefulness intact? Good news! God has resources where we have empty tanks. God sends helpers when we feel most isolated and alone. We are not to worry and never to doubt: God will deliver us into the very gift of Diligence that sustains our joy. Let’s access it together as the details of our stories take shape!    ❦