Overcome by Inertia

Yesterday, I came across Lucky with his bottom sitting on the couch, but his front legs on the ground. It was clear, he had decided to get off the couch, but then, mid stride, changed his mind. So he was sitting/standing, pondering his choices. I don't know how long he had been in that position, but he didn't move when I walked in the room. He looked a little mournfully at me, as though I could help him with this difficult decision. Did he want to lie back down on the comfy couch, or did he want to get up and deal with his daily to-do list? He just couldn't make up his mind.

It is how I feel. I can totally relate. The house needs massive cleaning before my boys come home for Christmas, gifts need mailing, cards need warm and personal messages before sealing, home-school work needs reviewing, and I have three interviews for my latest book that I need to find a way to conduct in the midst of both the interviewees' and my life. Not to mention visit my friend Comer in the Hospice house, and Mom K in her Assisted Living Home. I have to get all that done, sooner rather than later, but it is so much simpler just to nap.

I can't remember which Christmas cartoon the song is from, but I remember a line that went something like this: "Just put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be running out the door." I vaguely recall some overwhelmed elf feeling there was no possible way he could do all that needed doing. Like many of us in that situation, the tendency was just to give up, not move, succumb to inertia. But his friend wisely advised him to just get started. Ultimately, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

If Lucky were the praying type, he might have aided his decision by prayer. God does give a few guidelines when we are overcome by inertia, unable to move the mountain or part the sea, peering at a path obscured by worry or fatigue. Examine your heart and be sure of your motives, fix your eyes on God, and do nothing in word or deed that is evil. And then get your bottom off the couch and let your hind legs follow your forelegs. Soon you will be running out the door.

Proverbs 4:23-27 (NIV)
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. [24] Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. [25] Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. [26] Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. [27] Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.



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