The Lazy Man's Game

George was a tall handsome boy, gentle and sweet, who had from the first a kind of courtliness. Even as a little boy he was polite and what they used to call "no trouble." From his father he inherited the neatness of clothing and body and hair, and he never seemed ill dressed even when he was. George was a sinless boy and grew to be a sinless man. No crime of commission was ever attributed to him, and his crimes of omission were only misdemeanors. In his middle life, at about the time such things were known about, it was discovered that, he had pernicious anemia. It is possible that his virtue lived on a lack of energy. (John Steinbeck)

Way back when, when responsibilities were less, a friend and I spent an afternoon inventing a game.  It was called "The Lazy Man's Game" and it went like this.  Two teenagers sitting in a room, any room.  One teenager tosses something to the other.  It can be anything.  The game usually starts with a ball but it doesn't have to.  The object is to toss the item back and forth with the least possible effort. Don't get up from your seat. Don't make any fast movements. And don't dive for the ball. If you drop the ball, if it falls out of reach, don't go after it.  Just find something else within reach that you can throw instead-- again with the least possible effort.  This game could last for hours.  It had no winners or losers, just the lazy.

When I tell people my life story I always start with my younger years and talk about how I believe God protected me during that time. Not following God, I had no particularly reason to remain on the "straight and narrow" path. And yet for the most part I did. I've always chalked this up to God's hand in my life even before I was aware of it-- I still do. At the same time, I've never been a very high energy person.  I can get up early, but I go to bed even earlier. I can work hard but I need my rest. And I'm realizing that laziness can easily be mistaken for virtue. Lazy people never do anything great.  But they never do anything terrible either.  And so maybe my "virtue" as a child should really be chalked up to laziness.

So to broaden this idea: virtue is not necessarily what it seems. You may be living a life of virtue, but why? Is it laziness? Is if fear? Is it a desire to please others? To fit in? Or do you truly desire to live a life that is pleasing to God? God may have intended you for a great life and you're settling for a virtuous one.