Beeeee Proactive...

I love the natural world and the many spiritual lessons it provides.  Honeybees are a great example of this. Have you ever closely watched a hive?  My husband is a beekeeper and he constantly points out to me how hardworking and resourceful his bees are. Barring disease and the death of the queen, not much slows them down. They keep the nectar and pollen coming in, kick out and even kill the males (called drones, who only have ONE job: to mate with and fertilize the queen) so as to keep the freeloading to a minimum, and use their tiny wings as airconditioners and heaters to keep the queen and brood alive both summer and winter.  To say that bees are proactive is a understatement!

Proactivity is defined as: "serving to prepare for, intervene in, or control an expected occurrence or situation, especially a negative or difficult one."

The opposite or antonym of proactivity is passivity, defined as: "opposed to activity; the tendency of a body to remain in a given state, either of motion or rest, till disturbed by another body; inertia; inactivity; lack of initiative; submission to others or to outside influences"

Our culture trains us to be passive in many ways: media and entertainment, fast food, social programs, just to name a few.  We also have an epidemic of blame-shifting and responsiblity-shirking, as well as magical thinking.  Until we admit and own our "stuff" and make a plan to overcome our self sabotage, we will continue to be mired.

What causes passivity?  I think fear and negative conditioning are the two main ones. Laziness runs a close third. So how do we overcome these hindrances?

The first step is to PRAY! Ask God for help. Ask Him to empower you, give you wisdom as He has promised to do so in James 1:5:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

The second step is to brainstorm solutions; write them down!  Many solutions can be found by surfing the net, reading books by experts, etc. Pick one solution.  Third, break down the solution into numbered steps, and by each step, write down a date when you WILL accomplish this.  Fourth, enlist a buddy as an accountability partner.  Give him or her your list.

Here's an example. Say you are in debt. You want to get out of debt and start saving money.  PRAY! Ask for God's help to have self control, to identify areas you overspend, and to give you solutions to your money problems.  Read some books/websites by financial experts.  Pick a solution: for example, draw up a budget.  Write down the steps to making a budget.  If step one is: track spending, start that the next day. If the second step is "bring lunch to work rather than eating out," put a date when you will do that.  Then have your buddy check in with you to find out if you are on schedule. And so on.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating effect.” Amen?