It was my third Sunday Service in a new church, and I was beginning to settle in. I liked the Pastor; he delivers what I call the ‘Gospel Truth’. I like truth, you know the kind that we grew up hearing ‘hurts’. The hurt part is the shaping part that pulls you back in line with your faith. When I meet someone who speaks the truth, I like it served hot and spicy.

As I looked forward to the sermon, I couldn’t help but notice that the Pastor’s favourite chair was empty, not really empty but filled by another person, a much younger guy. As time for the sermon grew closer, Pastor was still missing. It was finally time for the Pastor to go up and ‘Young guy’ goes up and everything in me was saying ‘Where is Pastor? Who is this person?’

Well I wasn’t about to close my ears because from my experience, God likes to play a fast one on me and send a word through unusual people to remind me that He cannot be put in a box. I listened even though I thought his choice of topic was weirdly captioned but not totally unusual. I find that compared to the generations before us, people from my generation tend to funkify their sermon title. You know the same message, different methods school of thought. Well, he spoke and made a lot of sense and then he warned us that he was saving the best part for last, he did not want to be kicked off the stage with that part. Well the moment of truth came; he said many things that amounted to your walk with God is where it is because ‘You are LAZY’.

Chai! (Nigerian exclamation for What!) this guy just called me lazy.

Photo by Acharaporn Kamornboonyarush from Pexels

For those who know me well, you can testify that I am a direct descendant of the Proverbs 31 woman, so it is not that kind of laziness. My version of laziness manifest in areas where I have full control like making investment in myself. It is the kind that depends on you and you only to get things done, you know those important things that you wish you could do more but give one million reasons why not. My personal development has often been put on hold or deferred in an imaginary wait for the perfect time. John Maxwell said, “How you see yourself will determine how you invest in yourself”, those words made me hurt even more. That is my own area of laziness, for others, it could actually be the classical laziness to do anything at all. That Sunday, the younger version of Pastor spoke the truth and this truth hurt and whipped me to shape immediately.

The following morning, the alarm rang, and as I moved closer to snooze it, those words rang in my ear. You know you heard a good word when it becomes the nagging still small voice in your head. I woke up and got doing, after about a week of rising when the alarm rang, I knew deep within me that all the times that I snoozed the alarm in the past or even made excuses, laziness was speaking loud and clear. When I acknowledged it for what it was, I began to take actions to change course. I find that sometimes, you need to call a spade, a spade to trigger the required action almost like a factory reset required to remind you of what you were created to do.

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I was reminded that certain things will only happen if I consider them as important as eating, sleeping and breathing. So, if whatever you want to do is important, you will make time for it and do it. Mine was consistent and quality devotion time in the morning, I made several excuses including ‘God understands’. But that morning, I heard that the one reason why I am where I am is because of my laziness. By accepting that reality, I took steps and can now say I have gained private victory in my devotion life, my quest to read more books and finally an exercise routine that works for me and the family.

I looked inward, took responsibility and then I started all over; and this time I eventually closed the gap between good intention and action.



Note to Self: Resist the urge to snooze the alarm by a few minutes and begin to experience the joy of adding more to your list of daily achievements. The effects compound and therein lies the story of success.

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Have a good week ahead!

35 Comments

  • Bolatito

    Awesome..

  • This is beautiful and enlightening. Spoke to me

  • Joy

    Well written and impactful.
    Thank you.

  • Emily

    Great exposition.
    I am blessed.

    Thank you.

    • We are glad that our story struck the right cord with you. Thank you for reading

  • Udy

    I think this comes down to the subject of motivation. I heard something recently that I am still processing, it goes like this: “most people quit because they forget what got them started in the first place”. I read it this way, most people slow down, stop giving it all, stop waking up early, stop doing whatever it takes to grow, to change, to get better, because they forget why they took the job, started that class, married the girl or guy, and anything else you can add to this, because they got distracted from the primary reason they got started in the first place. So here’s the haunting question: “what made me get lazy”?

    • That is a great follow up question worthy of its own article hmm. That is why it is important to write the vision and make it clear so that all who see it can run with it and then get an accountability partner. My conscience has been doing a great job so far. Thank you for the comment

  • Toosh Baba

    Hmm..this one must’ve cut 99.99% of the readers somewhere. Nice read. I’m also happy you made it clear that, as much as the bitter pill is hard to swallow..”accepting” the fact matters too. It may not be that rosy, but accepting the truth is also an essential part of the growth. Nice read again.

    • 99.99% is a good score, we are glad you found it useful. Thank you

  • Itoro

    Hmm, alarm snoozing is one habit that I’ve fought in spirit and in truth. At some point, I’d to keep my phone in another room, so that I’ll have to take a little walk to snooze and while in that process, give myself a pep talk on why I set the alarm the previous night. Thanks for sharing- I’ll add “don’t be lazy” to the pep talk 🙌

  • Ada

    Love this. I remember this message and it indeed spoke to me.

  • Walter Ajogbor

    This is a clarion call to many including self. Another definition of laziness is procrastination – the postponement of today’s action to tomorrow with an avalanche of excuses. Take responsibility for your present status and station in life. Your delayed fulfilment of purpose is attributable to your laziness. Wake up.

    • Laziness hides itself as postponement most of the time, we tell ourselves that we will do it later but never do. Thank you very much

  • Solace

    Awesome.

  • I have 4 alarms… at least 1 will work. LOL. That Pastor shared a good word indeed.

    • Whatever technique gets you to wake up, Wake up and get doing….Thank you

  • Joy

    Thank you sir/ ma… This is timely. I think its for me.

    • We are glad you found our content inspiring. Thank you

  • Glory Bassey

    Wow, so impactful,iam blessed

  • Owoyi Esiere

    Proverbs 31…you know ‘na’.

  • jossylink

    Joshua is actually a culprit here. Thank you for the reminder..

  • nkure

    Hmmm! This got me. Kai my alarm clock needs apology. Thank you and good bye to that lazy eyes that always asks for more sleep.

  • ini Edinyang

    Thanks for sharing

  • Nancy Abraham

    Thank you for sharing

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