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There’s a part of me that has always associated being lazy with a lack of activity.  My picture of the lazy man is the man lying in his bed when he should be out working.  This picture is certainly still valid, but I’m starting to realize that laziness is more nuanced than that.  I am beginning to believe the laziness is more about responsibility than it is about activity.  Here’s how I came to be enlightened about this:

The other day I was cleaning up after dinner.  As usual, the kids were performing their responsibilities of wiping the table and cleaning up the floor.  Anyone with young children will understand that keeping children focused on task, doing the job that you have asked them to do is a lot of work.  I began to think to myself, maybe I should just let the kids go outside and clean up the dinning room myself.  Why was I thinking this?  Because in reality it was easier then helping my children to do a good job.  If I had gone down this path I would have been “busy” but I think I would still be considered lazy. 

On this occasion the Lord was reminding me that laziness isn’t so much about how busy I am as about whether or not I’m taking up the responsibilities that God has given to me.  The man who lays in bed when he should be working is not lazy because he’s in bed, he’s lazy because he is ignoring his responsibility to provide for his family.  In short, laziness is about not performing your responsibilities that the Lord has given to you, NOT about your current state of activity.  If your busy, but you’re not actually fulfilling the responsibilities that God has given to you: watch you, you might actually be lazy.