In All Labor There Is Profit: Why Vision Needs Action
What does “in all labor there is profit” mean in Proverbs 14:23? A practical reminder that vision gives us direction, but action is what moves us forward.
Recently, I wrote about the importance of having a vision for your home.
I think there is tremendous value in knowing what we are working toward. When we don’t have a clear vision, it is easy to spend our days reacting to whatever feels most urgent. We stay busy, but we aren’t necessarily moving forward.
But I’ve been thinking about the other side of that idea.
Vision tells us where we’re going, but vision alone cannot take us there.
At some point, the plans have to become action.
Proverbs 14:23 says:
“In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.” — Proverbs 14:23 KJV
Beside that verse in my Bible, I wrote three simple words:
Action > words.
And lately, I have needed that reminder.
Vision Gives Us Direction
I believe having a vision for our homes matters.
My own vision is to build a peaceful, beautiful, well-run home where my family can flourish. I want to steward our home, land, animals, money and time wisely. I want to educate my daughter well, nurture my marriage and family, create beautiful things, grow in my abilities, and do meaningful work without allowing that work to consume my life.
I want our life to become simpler, slower, more capable and more intentional year by year.
That’s a lovely vision.
But writing those words down doesn’t make any of it happen.
If I want a well-run home, eventually I have to get up and run it.
If I want to steward our land well, there is work to be done outside.
If I want to educate my daughter well, we have to sit down and do today’s lessons.
If I want to become more capable, I have to practice things I’m not yet good at.
If I want to create beautiful things, at some point I have to stop thinking about creating and actually create something.
Vision gives our work direction. Action turns that vision into a life.
“In All Labour There Is Profit”
I love the wording of Proverbs 14:23. It doesn’t say that only impressive work has profit. It doesn’t say that there is profit only when the results are immediate. It simply says:
“In all labour there is profit.”
There is something to be gained from doing the work. Sometimes the profit is obvious. You work in the garden and bring tomatoes into the kitchen. You spend an afternoon cleaning a room and can see the difference when you’re finished. You make a loaf of bread and your family eats it for supper. But sometimes the profit is harder to see. You practice a skill and become a little better. You teach the same phonics sound again and again until one day your child reads it without your help. You tend a relationship through a thousand ordinary conversations. You work at managing your home more efficiently and slowly begin discovering what works for your family. You try something that fails and learn what you will do differently next time.
There was still profit in the labor.
We Can Spend a Lot of Time Talking About the Work
The second half of Proverbs 14:23 is just as important as the first:
“…but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.”
Talking can feel remarkably productive. We can talk about getting organized. We can research the perfect homemaking routine. We can make another list. We can save another idea. We can spend an hour deciding which project we should tackle first. We can talk about the garden we want to plant, the bread we want to learn to bake, the money we want to save or the skill we’d like to learn.
Planning has its place. Good plans can keep us from wasting time and resources.
But eventually, planning has done its job. Eventually, we have to begin.
The loaf of bread comes from making the dough. The harvest comes from planting the seed. The clean room comes from picking up the mess. The skill comes from practicing. The finished project comes from starting.
There is profit in the doing.
Small Actions Still Count
I think sometimes we fail to act because the vision is so much bigger than what we can accomplish today.
Maybe your vision is a peaceful, well-run home.
You cannot create that entire home this Tuesday afternoon. But you can clean the kitchen.
Maybe you want to become more self-sufficient. You aren’t going to transform your entire way of life this week. But you can learn to bake bread, plant a few vegetables or preserve something you’ve grown.
Maybe you want to manage your money more wisely. You probably won’t completely change your financial situation today. But you can sit down and look at the numbers. You can make one better decision. You can begin.
We have a tendency to discount small actions because they don’t immediately resemble the finished vision. But most worthwhile things are built that way. One small act of labor followed by another…
And another…
And another.
Eventually, those ordinary actions begin to look like a life.
Action Is Especially Important in Homemaking
Homemaking is filled with work that can feel insignificant because much of it has to be done again tomorrow.
There will be more dishes. Someone will wear the clothes you just washed. The floor will get dirty again. Everyone will need supper tomorrow night, too.
It can sometimes make our work feel as though it isn’t producing anything, but Scripture reminds us that there is profit in labor.
The profit of making supper is a family that has been fed. The profit of doing laundry is having clean clothes ready when they’re needed. The profit of keeping a pantry stocked is being able to make a meal without another trip to the store. The profit of tending the garden is food on the table and knowledge gained for next year’s garden. The profit of creating routines is a home that functions a little more smoothly.
Not every day’s work produces something permanent.
That doesn’t mean the work was wasted.
Don’t Wait Until You Can Do Everything
This may be one of the biggest lessons I’m learning.
When I can see ten things that need to be done, I have a tendency to become discouraged because I cannot accomplish all ten, but doing nothing because I cannot do everything leaves me exactly where I started.
Doing one thing gives me the profit of one thing done. That matters.
Maybe you can’t overhaul the entire pantry today, but you can organize one shelf.
You can’t fix every problem in your home, but you can fix the loose doorknob.
You can’t become an accomplished gardener this afternoon, but you can plant something.
You can’t master a new skill today, but you can practice it.
There is freedom in realizing that we don’t have to finish the vision today. We simply have to participate in building it.
Action > Words
Those three little words I wrote beside Proverbs 14:23 have become something of a challenge to myself.
Action > words.
Thinking, dreaming, planning or talking aren’t bad. We need vision. We need plans. We need to think carefully about what we’re building and why, but those things are supposed to lead somewhere.
A vision for our homes should eventually change what we do in them. A goal should eventually affect today’s choices. A plan should eventually become work.
Otherwise, we can spend years talking about the life we’d like to have without ever doing the ordinary things required to build it.
What Can You Do Today?
Maybe you’ve already thought about the kind of home you want to create. Maybe you know what you want your family life to look like. Maybe there is a skill you’ve wanted to learn, a project you’ve wanted to finish, a habit you’ve wanted to establish or an area of your home you’ve wanted to improve.
You may not need to brainstorm another plan today. Instead, ask yourself one simple question:
What can I do today that moves me one step closer to that vision?
It doesn’t have to be impressive.
It doesn’t have to finish the job.
It just needs to move you forward.
Then get up and do that one thing.
Because vision gives us direction.
Action moves us forward.
And as Proverbs reminds us:
“In all labour there is profit.”
