Idleness

We are not and will not become complacent, lazy, or ignorant. No Idleness.

To pick up off the hard work post, the one thing I never want to model for my boys is idleness, being lazy, or complacent because I don’t want my boys to grow up to be sloths, to be complacent or even ignorant.

There’s a lot to be said about idleness (doing nothing). It opens a lot of opportunities for stupid. Stupid doesn’t find busy hardworking people very often. Stupid finds lazy people with nothing to do.

Some people dream of the day they can be slothful (retire and do nothing). I dread the day when I am limited to the couch watching the news. If the peak excitement of the day is when you get up from the couch and move to the computer, you are living a pointless existence.
I’m nostalgic. Even if I had no business ambitions I would still want to be on a farm cutting wood, planting, harvesting, feeding animals, etc. I must have some sort of motivation for the next day to come around. I need to have reasons to wake up and goals to accomplish. In my life, even in so-called retirement, I will always be working. Waking up with a purpose to the day and accomplishing or at least working towards goals. Otherwise, we are just waiting for death and I feel like death comes earlier for lazy folk. Unfortunately, there’s no study to back that up.

I don’t want my boys to ever be lazy or inactive. In fact, in our family trust, if you don’t work then you don’t receive the benefits of the trust. We are certainly not going to foster a generation that lounges around all day and parties all night. It’s not good for them and it certainly does not honor the family or much less, God.

I can’t imagine there’s any woman out there that lists a turn-on as guys who leave indents on a couch.
The same goes for you girls. Lump on a log is not our idea of attractive.

Russells take vacations and we enjoy beautiful scenery and nature. We are not machines that work 24-7 and think relaxation and playtime are for losers. In fact, I encourage our family to take more vacations and get disconnected from the world more often than most people because we work so hard. I don’t want my boys to work themselves into an early grave or abandon their families. I know for a fact with the advancements in the world I work way harder and faster than my grandparents ever did. We accomplish so much and are connected to our world as we have never been before that we really do need to purposefully disconnect and spend time enjoying the world and our families. Truthfully, Russells must get out of Wi-Fi access, abandon our phones, and fall off the grid to truly have relaxation. If not, work will find us. And that is getting harder and harder for me every year.

We always have work in our lives. Whether we are building a brand-new company, dedicating ourselves to the church, or helping a nonprofit. Our days have structure and our minds work creatively and thoughtfully throughout our days. We accomplish goals and reap the positive feelings and rewards from accomplishment. It helps us become better people. Work is simply good for the soul. Obviously, movement is good for the body and using your brain will keep your mind sharp. The opposite of all that is idleness, laziness, and complacency.

Proverbs 13:4
“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.”

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I’m Townsend Russell with 100% Dad – The Dad Group
We’re preaching over here for Dads to step up, be real men, and real leaders of their homes.