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Put 5 monkeys in a cage with stairs leading to a banana on the ceiling. Each time a monkey tries to climb the stairs spray the other four with cold water. Soon the monkeys will attack any monkey who tries to climb the stairs.
Now you can stop spraying the monkeys and they will still keep each other from the banana. Eventually, if one of the monkeys is replaced with a new monkey he’ll try for the banana but will be attacked even though there is no spray. Continue replacing monkeys one by one until each of the five original monkeys are gone and none of the monkeys have ever been sprayed. Still the monkeys will attack anyone who tries to get the banana. Why? Because, “That’s the way it’s always been done around here.”
Unfortunately, that’s how policy in many companies and churches often develops. Much time is wasted when policy is not periodically reexamined. Remember, taking time to establish relevant, well thought out, biblically sound policy will redeem the time.
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Have you ever found yourself in a strange place without a map? That happened to ma a few days ago. I was in Washington State doing seminars when I crossed the state line into Idaho and realized I had failed to bring an Idaho map. Since I’m too cheap to buy an Idaho map when I already had one at home, I spent the next few hours with a sense of uncertainty not being able to see exactly where I was heading.
Many people go through life every day with that feeling of uncertainty because they haven’t taken time to map out where it is they want to go. Every night before going to bed, try mapping out the following work day. You’ll find that when you arrive at work with a map, you have a greater ability to resist the trivial demands of the moment, and concentrate on the most important thing that God really wants you to accomplish.
Remember, using a map will redeem the time.
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In most any project God sends our way there is a limiting step involved in the completion of that project. By that I mean there is a bottleneck somewhere that holds back the pace at which work on the project can be completed. For example, when my family goes for a walk, the pace at which we can move is determined by the speed at which the slowest child can walk.
To be good stewards of our time, we need to consciously identify the limiting step in any project under our control. For example, as our family has grown, serving leftovers was becoming difficult because everyone had to take turns waiting on the microwave to heat their plate of food. We remedied this limiting step by purchasing a second microwave.
God wants us to be a productive people who live for Him to our full potential. By identifying your limiting step and doing what you can to improve it, you’ll serve Him better by redeeming the time.
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I was a man who had not made a single mistake for as long as anyone could remember. He was an Egyptian mummy.
Everyone who tries to accomplish something in life will experience failure. Failure is simply part of the process of accomplishment and success. I like the way motivational speaker Zig Ziglar puts it, “If you try, and lose, you can learn from losing, which greatly reduces the loss.” That’s good reasoning and it’s Scriptural. Proverbs says a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again. In other words, he learns from his mistakes and applies the knowledge gained to future endeavors.
How do you respond to failure? Many people consider it a total waste of time when a project doesn’t succeed. They become depressed and let their emotions rule, vowing they’ll never try again. But that’s not of God. That’s of the enemy.
Remember, “If you try, and lose, you can learn from losing, which greatly reduces the loss.” That’s good advice for those who would redeem the time.
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