Monday; June 10

A couple of weeks ago I was dealing with a physical malady. In all honesty, I didn’t feel bad and it really didn’t stop me from doing what I wanted to do – I just kind of felt bad and I was tired of it. I recently heard someone say that if you treat a cold, you will feel better in seven days – and if let it go untreated, you’ll get well in about a week. Honestly, as it turned out, that was pretty much what happened. I tried to medicate myself to help speed up the recovery, but I don’t know that it helped all that much. About a week after I started feel bad, I started feeling better.

As I thought about this inconvenience, it reminded me of how tempting it is to try to do things as quickly as possible. We want to fix our issues fast – and we want to limit our exposure to inconvenience to as little as possible; however, for a lot of things in life, they just take time. We can try a lot of quick fixes, but often the thing that makes things better is time – and patience. There are times when we grow impatient with daily inconveniences, but this can be a larger challenge when the stakes are higher. While the Bible promises that God will be with us in all we do, it never promises that issues will always be resolved quickly. In fact, the early Christians were challenged, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.” (Hebrews 10:36).

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? I hope you’ll get over it quickly, but as you wait, don’t forget to feel the presence of God’s peace in your life as you endure the process.

Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday; November 29

The biblical story of the Good Samaritan has changed our world. Notice I didn’t say that it had change religion or even Christianity, it has influenced the world. There are very few people who don’t know the moral of Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan. In fact, the phrase has become a common description of everyday people doing good to their neighbors. While Jesus’ parable from Luke 10 shares several spiritual lessons, one of the most practical is that good can be done by anyone. You don’t have to be a church official to do good, it is not only possible for each one of us to help, it is required of all of us. If a Samaritan can be good, so can we! After presenting the parable, Jesus asked the man who had originally asked the question about being a good neighbor which character in the story was a good neighbor, “… he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’” at which point, the discussion from theoretical to personal, “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’” (Luke
Read more

Thursday; January 12

The other day I was watching a television show that used a rather common term applied to overcoming challenges. When organizations experience unexpected setbacks – especially when they lose key people – they rely upon the concept of “Next Man Up”. In essence, when our starters (or stars) go down, effective organizations rely upon their next levels to step into the vacancy. While this is an effective response, have we given much thought as to how we prepare to be the “next people up”? First, we must know our job. Even when we aren’t the primary players, we need to be preparing ourselves to be ready when we get the opportunity to shine. Second, we must do our best when we get the chance. Knowledge is important but what turns potential into talent is effort. Yet, maybe the most underappreciated aspect of this concept is a willingness avoid excuse-making and whining about the unfairness of our situation. When we complain about the circumstances that caused the need for replacements
Read more

Monday; September 25

When I was a youngster, I remember hearing about this thing called the Generation Gap. I was a little bit too young to be active in the social movements of the 1960s, but I do remember listening to the challenges the generations were experiencing way back then. Interestingly, now that I have been on both sides of the aging process, I have to admit that the Gap of the 1960s was nothing new. With the development of each generation comes conflict. The young people don’t feel like the older people understand them and the older folks tend to believe their input is being underappreciated. Too often trust is the casualty when two generations collide. The sad thing is that it doesn’t have to be this way. When we can capture the innovation and energy of the younger folks and harness the wisdom of those who have been around for a while we can develop a winning combination. No, we won’t always see things eye-to-eye nor will we necessarily speak the same emotional language, but when we app
Read more