October is the month where pumpkins reign as king. Everything
from coffee to cereal is flavored with pumpkin spice. Colorful leaves on trees
and crisp evenings and mornings are a welcome relief after a hot summer. Fall festivals and trick or treating are
other fun events for October.
October is also the month when we gear up for
Christmas. Hallmark Christmas movies start this coming week. The stores are
already filled with Holiday décor, and families begin to plan their
celebrations. Other festivals celebrated during the month of October suit me
better.
International Sloth Day is celebrated on October 20,
2022. Sloths mostly inhabit Central and
South America, but they are being celebrated worldwide during October. Their
appearance and characteristics make them very loveable. People enjoy seeing
them in zoos in their natural habitat.
The Bible talks about the sin of slothfulness. It’s easy to fall into slothfulness after
retirement and when you’re closing in on 80 years old. The temptation to stay
in bed longer in the mornings and stay up later at night is real. Those comfy
pajamas are harder to shed. The lure of interesting posts on Facebook and on my
computer grab my attention and before I know it, an hour has sprinted by. I
should’ve spent that hour in prayer or getting some exercise.
Procrastination is a first cousin of slothfulness.
Putting things off until tomorrow is a deadly habit that I need to avoid. “Hanging
around” like a sloth doesn’t get much done. There are some days when tackling
the to do list is not an option. Aches and pains and brain fog puts me in my
chair where I stay except to get something to eat. Thankfully, those slothful
days are followed by several days of productive activity.
The sloth is very slow moving and it takes a month to
digest a meal. God made that creature to remind us that He loves us on our
slothful days as well as our productive days.
