Excuse Making is an Art For Sissies

"The Slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I Shall be slain in the streets."  Proverbs 22:13

I remember as a child hearing my Mom tell stories about my grandparents and what they had to endure.  I love recalling the story of my grandfather and his brother riding horseback into Mexico during the depression to bring back food that was needed for their family and friends.  They would get into gun battles with the Texas Rangers on their way back to their Ranch in Texas.  They did have livestock at one time but it had been confiscated during the depression.  How I loved those stories and what courage it bolstered in my spirit.  As I got older, I enjoyed and have enjoyed studying early American History and what people back then went through.  Again, I would feel the courage in me begin to rise.  I was always amazed by their "no quit" attitude despite not having our modern conveniences and technologies.  However, one thing most of these old timers had that we lack today is the ability to find solutions to their problems rather than excuses.  I'm not saying we don't have people like that today but they are a dying breed.  A slothful person is more concerned with themselves than with putting themselves in an inconvenient spot for the sake of right or the well being of their family.  In this verse, the excuse was made that there was a possible lion siting.  Ok, for the sake of amusement lets follow that line of thinking.  The solution would not be to sit at home till the lion dies.  That could take years.  Keep in mind, they didn't have refrigerators back them; therefore, they depended on daily sustenance to live.  A human can only live at most 2 to 3 days without water; therefore a solution had to be found quickly.  To me, as a father and a Christian, the solution would be to kill the lion or die trying or maybe have a meeting with the men of the town and in a concerted effort kill the lion.  I said all that to say this:  Solutions and not excuses is what God wants from us.  Welfare would lose many applicants today  if men would just be men today.  How about you?  Do you make excuses for not fulfilling your God given responsibilities or do you find solutions?