Proverbs 12:27

"The lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions."

The picture here is very dramatic. Two men go hunting and both bag game, perhaps a deer or a gazelle. One of the men is diligent. He recognizes his need for food and, though it takes extra time and more effort, he puts is catch on a spit and roast the entire animal. In do so, he preserves it as useful for later consumption (provided he finds a relatively cool place to store it). The other man is lazy. Having drummed up the effort needed to hunt and catch--likely because of the pangs of hunger that he felt--this man consumes, immediately and until he is sated, and leaves the rest to rot. He does not value the game he bagged and takes no effort to preserve the extra for later consumption.

The foolishness in this is that the lazy man must work twice as hard. He will be forced to head out hunting the next day, and the day after that, ad infinitum, until he learns to care for what he has. So it is for us. As I study the Scriptures, do I apply any of it to memory? If not, I'll be hunting for it again when I need it. I keep a file system of quotes and illustrations for the very same reason. Work done at the front end, recognizing the value of the item at hand, saves a considerable amount of time and work later on.