Idleness. Idleness is a sin against God. "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work." "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." "If any man will not work, neither let him eat." It is also a sin against our nature; causing a slow movement, which is a serious disappointment; tardiness, which is like a dead fly in precious ointment; and, that loathsome disease, laziness. Like drunkenness it is an inexcusable shame, that dooms one to poverty and clothes him with rags. Shun idleness as you do the sting of a hornet, or the bite of a rattler.
"We are not here to play, to dream, to drift,
We have our work to do, and loads to lift.
Shun not the struggle; face it. 'Tis God's gift."
"They are slaves who fear to speak,
For the fallen and the weak.
They are slaves who will not choose
Hatred, scoffing and abuse,
Rather than in silence shrink
From the truth they needs must think;
They are slaves, who dare not be
In the right with two or three." Lowell.
Do your best. Put your best efforts in your work, no matter how simple or difficult the task.
"I am passing through this world but once. I will therefore do my best every day, and do all the good to all the people I can."
"I do the very best I know how—the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference." Abraham Lincoln.
Efficiency. Efficiency is the ability to perform work in the shortest and quickest way, by omitting every useless movement.
Faith. Faith rests on facts and realities. It is the basis of home and business. "It swings the rainbow across the dark clouds, makes heroes in life's battles, extracts the poison from Satan's arrows and links us to God and the good in heaven."
Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty, as we understand it. With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish, the work we are in. Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg.
Gladness. Gladness is sown for the upright. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Manifest your joy and gladness by wearing the smile of contentment and love. It includes a sparkle in the eye, a little ripple on the cheek and the kind word that "never dies."
"Smile and the world smiles with you,
Laugh and the world will roar,
Growl and the world will leave you,
And never come back any more.
All of us could not be handsome,
Nor all of us wear good clothes,
But a smile is not expensive,
And covers a world of woes."