"A stressed mom asked her six year old daughter to return thanks for the elaborate meal she had prepared for their special company. The little girl replied, “I wouldn’t know what to say.” “Just pray what you hear mommy praying.” said Mom. The little girl bowed her head and said, “Lord, why did I invite all these people to dinner.”
At least the little girl was honest. But this mom could have avoided such an embarrassing moment by learning to create simpler meals. Creating a full course meal on fine china for a group of guests is a high stress event. And it’s often unnecessary and even counterproductive for good fellowship.
When you ask friends over for an elaborate meal, they think they have to prepare an elaborate meal before they can return the favor. The result is fewer visits and a lot more stress.
Jesus once exhorted his host to focus on the people, not the formalities. He knew that simple meals were a better way to redeem the time.
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"I once heard a time management instructor tell about a medical doctor he met who wore a shirt with two pockets, each stuffed to overflowing with little slips of paper. The doctor explained that one was an in basket and another was an out basket.
At least the doctor was making some attempt at being organized. However those floating slips of paper have a tendency to float away from us, along with the information they contain. If you have the habit of making notes on little pieces of paper, consider carrying a notepad or date book with you at all times and make your notes where you know you can find them. An even better solution is the electronic organizer, also called a PDA or Palm organizer, that allows you to make electronic notes just as easily as writing on paper.
Whatever system you choose, the main thing is to get in the habit of using it regularly, so God can use you regularly, as you learn to better redeem the time.
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"An old farm dog fell into a dry well and began to bark and howl for his master. After considering the situation, the farmer concluded the dog was too old to try to save, and since he had been needing to fill in the well anyway, he might as well go ahead and mercifully put the dog to death by burying him.
But as the first shovel of dirt hit the old dog’s back, he shook it off and then climbed on top of it. As the farmer kept shoveling, the dog kept shaking it off and getting on top of it until finally the well was filled and he walked free.
Today, the Devil will probably have someone throwing dirt on you. When it happens you can waste time letting it bury you or you can shake it off and get on top of it.
Remember, learning to respond God’s way to life’s difficulties is a vital skill because it helps us redeem the time."
"Achieving your best for the Lord requires balancing production with production capacity. If a factory runs a machine 24/7, never stopping for maintenance, it produces a lot in the short term, but when the machine soon crashes, production capacity is ruined and much less is produced in the long run.
A frustrated lumberjack can keep hammering a tree with a blunt ax or he can take a moment to improve his production capacity by sharpening the ax so he produces more in the long run.
As Christians, we can say we “don’t have time” for God’s Word in the morning. We have to start “producing.” But we are missing the point that we ultimately produce more by balancing immediate production with increasing production capacity by getting God’s instructions for the day.
Of course we can err the other way too, by always building production capacity but never producing. The key is balancing production with production capacity so we redeem the time."