Proverbs Daily Devotional: Day 24
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.”
Proverbs 24:33-34
Admiral William McRaven, who spent 37 years as a Navy Seal and became one of the top military commanders in the US, famously stated that if you want to change the world, start by making your bed. I believe this started out as a speech given at a commencement ceremony, and developed later into a book. His point is that if you start with the little things, the bigger things will come. Pay attention to small details, and you’ll pay attention to large details. Finish this one small task, and it will start your day on a path to finishing one more task, and one more, until by the end of the day you have completed many tasks.
“If you can’t do the little things right,” McRaven states, “you will never do the big things right.” The Proverbs share this sentiment, especially as they relate to the choices of the sluggard. People don’t often change overnight. People change as they do (or don’t do) small things day after day, until a snowball effect takes place and they begin to accumulate more and more of what they don’t want. By the time that snowball stops rolling, life has changed drastically. A sluggard doesn’t become a sluggard overnight. It happens one poor or lazy choice at a time, one day at a time. So too, the wise and diligent don’t become so overnight. It happens one wise choice at a time, one day of diligence at a time. You can change for better or for worse. Little things matter. What choices are you making today that will impact your tomorrow?
—Pastor Jeff
