"Diligent hands will rule,

but laziness ends in forced labor."  Proverbs 12:24  The other morning before I sat down to do my quiet time the word diligence was placed on my heart.  I am not sure why, but it was.  Then I opened my Bible to Proverbs 28 where I was reading that morning.  At the bottom of the page (since I use a study Bible) it had a segment on "The Diligent vs. The Lazy".  It had references to all the verses in Proverbs that dealt with the two categories.  The Holy Spirit was definitely moving in my quiet time that morning.  The words "on purpose" had been on my heart over the last month.  To do things on purpose.  To live on purpose for the Lord.  To be a mother of purpose.  To be a wife of purpose.  To carefully think about things, and do them.  Do them completely.  To purposefully make each day wonderful, because that is what we should be doing.  We should not just so happen to get the laundry done.  We should attack it with Tide and Downy in hand and with a purpose.  This next year I want to not only make sure I am doing things on purpose, but diligently on purpose.  There are so many things that I want to get done and accomplish, but the only way I will ever even set one foot in front of the other is if I do it on purpose.  I challenge you to daily live on purpose for whatever it is you are doing.  Even us stay at home mommies have a diligent purpose to be carrying out.  When we live on purpose for the Lord, I envision sharing His truths with those you may have been putting it off with.  I see helping one another in love, not out of "have-to".  I picture a house full of projects that need to be completed, getting completed with smiles, hugs, and cheers.  I close my eyes, and I feel warmth and heavy hearts being unloaded because your purposefully asked a stranger how you could help them, and meant it.  Not just because it's the new year, but because this is on my heart.  I purpose to be on purpose!

"The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty." Proverbs 21:5