The Investment of Work

What is it with work? I avoid it, and find creative ways to get out of it. For example, (Forgive me for using a writing example) to start writing takes so much will power. I must turn on the computer, wear the right cloths (my room can get chilly), have the noise level right, my favorite pen by my side, or any other excuse to create a perfect environment before writing (or studying) is to commence. (Checking email is a great way to burn time) What I need is the persistence to sit at my desk come winter storm, power-outage or pen malfunction, and take down every thought which comes to me. This example proves that even with work we love, it can sometimes turn to drudgery. Sitting at my desk, with nothing coming, I feel I could do something else, something more exciting.
Recently, this verse captured my attention: “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk only tends toward poverty.” Proverbs 14:23 (ESV)
Sometimes, you read a proverb and go “oh, that’s nice,” and not really get the meaning, but this one, I got. Work always creates a profit, if it is cleaning your room, doing school, or digging ditches. There is always something which creates a return on your investment of work. There are no lost investments with work. The stock markets will change and you can lose those investments. The securest investment of them all is your own effort.
Work cannot be measured in monetary means all the time. How much money can be placed on having an organized room, or a lawn that is neat, or a driveway which is safe because it is cleared of ice and snow? What money can be placed on that?
“Mere talk tends toward poverty.”
Well, if you are going to do nothing, then that is what you get. Action is what really matters. Sure, organization and talking things out are necessary for a job well done. But there is a time when the talking has gone too far. George Patton once said: “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”
Mere talk. I am good at that. I talk about what is wrong with me, and what I should do to fix it. But that state of rest gets nothing done. The problems are still there. If I move—work—I am sure to have at least some of it pay off. If I work towards that change and fail, it is not all lost; for I have worked and a profit, no matter how small, was earned.