The idle man finds excuses and says: `Outside is a lion, I could be killed in the road.` (Solomon`s Proverbs 22 : 13).
To justify his idleness, the idle man always complains about the difficulties and obstacles he meets in accomplishing his tasks, exaggerating their gravity.
If his neighbor upsets him, he will say that the whole village upsets him; if he notices a small trembling of the leaves, he will say that he doesn`t go to the field because the storm is ready to burst. If near his threshold there is a rabbit, he will say that outside is a lion who waits to snatch him. But he says this only because he doesn`t want to get out of the house and he wants to postpone work all the time.
Idleness is something unnatural for the man. Permanent activity is something innate for the human nature. The man always seeks to do something, to be always busy, to work, to build up. Idleness is the sure sign of the alteration of the human nature.
We can see clearly that idleness is a sin and a vice from the fact that the active man never envies the idle while the idle always envies the active; in the same way the sober man never envies the drunkard and the drunkard always envies the man who doesn`t like debauchery.
Oh, Lord, Jesus Christ, eternal worker, save us from the dark and sinful passion of idleness which estranges us from the face You gave us, to resemble You, Lord of all. Inspire us with Your Holy Spirit, Who is forever working and giver of life and joy. For to You is due all praise and gratitude for ever. Amen
Excerpts from Prologues from Ohrid– Saint Nicholas Velimirovich, Egumeniţa Publishing.
