day 3K80: Lie Flat

“Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich.”

“Lie Flat” is a term that comes out of China.  It’s their way of explaining when a worker doesn’t want to work, or that work doesn’t matter to someone, or a worker is burned out, or even that a worker doesn’t want more responsibility.  This last phenomena where someone is happy at the level of responsibility that they have, with no desire for more pay or a promotion is something I am seeing more often.  It appears that not only has there been a “Great Resignation”, but also there is a “Great Recognition” that is happening as well.  After all of the change in work patterns, use of time, etc. the recognition of what level of work vs. responsibility is desired is being reconciled.  We might say that all across the world, workers are trying to figure out what will get them to not want to lie flat and then just how active they will want to be in their jobs.

When we juxtapose the Proverbs about how we are to work with what we are experiencing today in the workplace, it is hard to reconcile.  I don’t necessarily equate a desire to Lie Flat today with laziness, but laziness can certainly creep into the kind of work patterns that we are in now.  More than any time I can remember, are we challenged to self-discipline and self-motivate.  The flip side can be that we drift into lazy patterns.  That we should be careful of letting happen.  As is so much of our faith, it’s a daily challenge for us.  What are we not doing today that might be because of a little laziness inside of us?  It’s a good check of ourselves!

Reference:  Proverbs 10:4 (New Living Translation)