Our Scripture for today is Proverbs 14:23
“In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty.”
We’ve all got that special person in our life. You know them because of what they are “going to do” someday. I call these people the “Yak-Yak” People.
In today’s verse, the wise man warned about leading the Yak-Yak life. Let me translate that verse into our language, “if all you do is talk about what you are going to do, then you will be poor.”
If others lead that kind of life, what do we do… stay away from them? Yes, because that friend with the yak yak habit will live in pain AND bring pain to those around them. We also note that life by the yak yak rule is one of underachieving.
But the scary thing is that sometimes we also live with the yak yak rule. Sometimes it is me. Sometimes it is you.
So how can I tell if I live by the yak yak rule? Here is how: make a list of all the good plans you were going to do but never got around to it. Look at all the projects you started but never finished. If that list is long, then they are pretty good indicators of a yak yak personality.
The poet wrote:
We shall do so much in the years to come,
But what have we done today?
We shall give our gold in a princely sum,
But what did we give today?
We shall lift the heart, and dry the tear,
We shall plant a hope in the place of fear,
We shall speak the words of love and cheer,
But what did we speak today?
– Nixon Waterman
What is the antidote? Start something and get it done. See it through to its completion. The antidote for the Yak-Yak life is today. Do something today. Do not wait for someday. Do something today so that the tomorrow you will be happy about it.
Lonnie Davis