7 Types of Laziness

When we got to High school, our uniform changed as seen in the picture below: long sleeves accompanied with a tie. I didn’t know how to knot a tie. And I kept promising myself how I’d do it. I kept on telling myself I’d learn how to next week. I’d even wash my tie while it was knotted. I’d always take it to my big brothers in Senior Five to do the hardwork, then give it back well shaped.

Let me shock you! It is 7 years since I left high school AND I HAVE NEVER LEARNT HOW TO KNOT A TIE! As usual, God slipped into my DM, mentioning procrastination as one of the types of laziness. We think it is about people lounging in sofas all day while watching TV!

Today you’ll learn that laziness has many dimensions, and even those that are holy, practise it in one way or another!

The lazy man says, “There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion [is] in the streets!” As a door turns on its hinges, So does the lazy [man] on his bed. The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl; It wearies him to bring it back to his mouth (Proverbs 26:13-15)

This of course, is the first type of laziness. Plain and naked; Effortlessness. How can one not be willing to lift the food in his hand up to his mouth! Feels like witchcraft!

Another is illiteracy: Let me shock you again! 70% of my family—Yes, even 80—doesn’t know how to spell my sir name. B-I-G-I-R-W-E-N-K-Y-A. 11 letters that can be read after few minutes of proper observation. What have many decided to roll with? An easier version. A shortcut. Many can’t call me ‘Biggie’ because it seems a lie on the physical plane. Thus they’ve named me Biriganya (Yes…the local name for eggplant)

Some cousins call me Bigirimana…Byenkya… (And in primary through secondary, friends and teachers used to call me; Power Ranger, Big Ranger, Big Quencher, B, Nkya and so many more…)

Looking back, this portrays a large portion of laziness amongst us. How come that some people grasped how to say it in one go! A neighbor last week sat down with me and learnt how to pronounce my name there and then. Immediately, one cousin passed minutes later, calling me Biriganya…still! 😵

… And it’s not bullying per se. They’ve not bothered to get literate enough about my name. And it’s not my name alone, but many other things. 3 out of 4 Ugandans (in my circles) will claim not to be good readers. I wrote a 250 paged novel. It is quite shocking that 2 years down the road, with over 100 copies sold, only one child & her 2 siblings have returned asking me for the sequel. Not even my close friends!

Interests aside, many say the book is thick. But how did they excel at history or biology, reading all those pages in school. You get to realize that illiteracy isn’t just the deficiency of the reading or writing skills, but the fear to read or write! This same deficiency is what many have carried on, to life’s manual — God’s Word. They say, ‘The Bible is too thick and boring.’ See? The fear to read, and the lack of motivation!

Many need motivation in a form of a prize… ‘Read this and you’ll get that phone that you want.’ Well, if we need to motivate you to read, we have no other choice! We have to get rid of this hindrance to knowledge access. It’s time to disprove statements like ‘if you want to hide money from an African, put it in a book.’

Idleness is the third kind. This is due to lack of creativity to solve any problem or a mere chore. Yes even chores. I have seen people where by they can’t clearly calculate or observe what needs to be done. They can’t notice that some one is being burdened with work and so, unless they are told, they won’t move!

Forgetfulness: This is common with the misappropriation of dates. A conference would be happening today, and then someone says, “I thought it was next week!” … Next week? Wait when that happens with your wedding anniversary, I am sure your spouse will not take it as funny! Get the date straight in your head! Some parents forget their children’s birthdays! I mean—this is your DNA! Your seed!

Should we be shocked if Isaiah said “Though your father or mother forsake you, God will not…”? I’m starting to think not! The forsaking here has some sense of forgetting… If not, picture how it feels when a parent forgets about a child’s visitation or talent-show day. If there were some inevitable unprecedented circumstances, that’s different. But if it happens often, and a person isn’t diagonised with some sort of forgetful disease… Then how would you call this?

Irresponsibility: This one comes in such a way that shows that someone doesn’t have a sense of belonging or responsibility. For example, if a parent comes back home and asks about the chicken, or the wheel barrow, or the car, or the boys’ quarters, or anything significant in a homestead, and this specific child never seems to know anything at all pertaining to what is being asked—ever, then I think that child is irresponsible.

If a parent can’t trust their own child with home property, the wealth being stored up for that specific one will end up being squandered pretty fast, since…well, the child may not even know where it is, how to steward it, let alone how to increase it! And by ‘child’, I mean a teenager or young adult!

Same goes for any employee, treating property at work with recklessness, stating it is not their own, and yet, they are owned they themselves by the employer.

Ignorance is another! Lack of vision is what it is in other terms. Being lazy about the present is one thing, but having no expectation of oneself for the future is another altogether. Many young men and women today roll about with the same tide claiming how there are no jobs, and letting go of their dreams, or changing them so rapidly such that none have enough time to be believed enough to spring to life.

What is suffering is their time. Slowly, the forties clock in. It gets too late to do specific things, and then envy & regret grips them as they watch the success of others. Simply because they failed to discover themselves and their purpose, or their passions — what they were born to do.

Over Sleeping: This combines procrastination to awake and face the day, effortlessness to get oneself out of bed, and idleness. This again is exclusive for those having some illness, but if one has no complications whatsoever, then I wonder!

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Now why did I write this? I did because, we point fingers at the over sleepers, calling them lazy, yet we are procrastinators, or irresponsible! It’s all the same, just like murdering someone is as equally sin as stealing a pen in God’s eyes.

For whatever kind of laziness you might fall under, you’ll take heed to what God said by King Solomon;

Proverbs 12:24 The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy man will be put to forced labor.

Proverbs 13:4 The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.

Proverbs 21:25 The desire of the lazy man kills him, For his hands refuse to labor.

Proverbs 15:19 The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns, But the way of the upright is a highway.

Proverbs 20:4 The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing.

As we’ve seen, the word ‘lazy’ combines all the types mentioned! And we see that the lazy cannot RULE, they desire and have NOTHING, and sometimes that desire kills them. Their lives are like a fence of thorns — hard & rough, and they’ll always BEG!

But the curse for the lazy is not your portion! God helps you become more diligent in all sectors of your life. Working in you both to will and to do (and to be fruitful beyond what you can imagine). To face the world without fear, to bear clear vision, not to be forgetful nor idle, to love to read, to do all things with effort, and not to procrastinate.

You’ll RULE. You’ll desire something and you’ll have it. It shall not kill you, your life will be smooth green pastures and meadows of flowers. You’ll lend and not borrow. You’ll give and not BEG! Through Him by whom you can do all things!

Stay blessed. I remain ‘Bee-Ghee-ray-ncher’