Devotion

Keep Taking Out the Trash
The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. --- Proverbs 21:5

Listen to this: There were two cousins - Lance and Leo - who both lived on farms. They dreamed of being successful businessmen when they grew up. By the time they reached high school, Lance would try to dress like businessman to impress the girls, while Leo wore his overalls and enrolled in extra math courses. After school and on weekends, Lance hung out in the city with the kids of parents who worked in business the business world, while Leo did farm chores and took regular counsel with his dad in the barn. After graduation, Lance went off away to business college, while Leo attended a nearby business school. In little time, Lance returned home to the farm and told his parents that he was not cut out for business. (He was passing in popularity and failing everything else.) Frustrated with himself for disappointing his family, Lance went outside to lick his wound. He paused to watch his cousin Leo drive up to the farm. Now a partner in a business firm - Leo waved to his older cousin and proceeded to go inside his parent's home. Momentarily, he returned outside with a bag of garbage in each hand.  In his nice business suit, he proceeded to walk down the dusty, dirt road and dispose of the garbage. He walked back up to the farm, got into his truck, and headed to his own house. It was then that Lance had a wise epiphany:  The way to make a vision become a reality is to work on yourself from within. Store all the good counsel, knowledge, and work ethics, but keep taking out the trash (pride, distractions, haste). Otherwise, the appearance of what you aspire to be on the outside will only amount to the sound of you just 'talking trash'.