Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor (Proverbs 12:24).

I'm close to the end of my Proverbs 365 project, and as I come down the home-stretch I'm trying to give it everything I've got.  Even so, I sometimes worry that I'm not going to be able to finish.  Over the last week or so, I've been making my (self-imposed) deadlines by only the smallest of margins.  Last Thursday, I think, I completed my post for the day with just nine minutes to spare.  It's getting that desperate.  Seriously down to the wire.

I know that it really doesn't matter that much if I finish my 365th entry on the 365th morning of 2010.  There's no publisher breathing down my neck, making sure that I'm getting the content out on time.  I don't have any money riding on this project that I'll lose if I miss a deadline.  Honestly, I think it would only be a handful of people who might ever even notice, if I skipped a day or just posted a few hours late.  Hardly anyone would fault me for defaulting on my own self-devised, fully-volunteer reading program.

At this point, it's all about the diligence.

The only real problem with the idea of slacking a bit at this point is that I've read the Proverbs too many times now.  Throughout the last year, I've been reading these verses which regularly extol the virtues of hard work, perseverance, priorities, and diligence... and I guess they've just had an impact on me.  I want to see this project through to the end.  I want to be diligent, even if it's just for the sake of being diligent.  The Proverbs say that "diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor."  And while I'm honestly not all that concerned about gaining political power or avoiding a life of indentured servitude -- I do realize that it's hard to manage any other situation effectively if I cannot manage myself first.  So that means pushing myself to follow through on my commitments, even when I don't feel like it.  It means deliberately stimulating activity where it would be easier to just rest in apathy.  It means finishing the work that I set out to do.  And in this case, I think it means finishing this Proverbs 365 project to the best of my ability.

Doing the diligent thing is going to be challenging enough for the remaining 18 days of this writing project.  But I also want to continue challenging myself to savor the experience and not just "do my duty" like a good soldier.  In Proverbs 12:24, it says that "The lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his posessions."  Consequently, it's important for me to not just "get things done," but to also really prize the insight that God can give me through the final days of poring over the Proverbs.  So help me, God...