Nov 10
When I answered the phone one afternoon, the college administrator on the other end began by apologizing for the interruption. “Quite all right,” I responded. “I’m a mother. I never get interrupted, I just change focus a lot.” Truer words were never spoken. Rarely have more helpful words been spoken. Changing focus is what we need. Read more
To enjoy the full benefit from pesky questions like the contentment question, we need to spread them over our lives like rich butter on warm, fresh bread: liberally. When we move the question around different parts our life, it helps us clarify where we need to work on our God-given responsibilities, and it helps us attend to subtle long term needs, rather than only concentrating on screeching and screaming short term pressures. Read more
Here is where to begin reading Daily Doses 11-20 in order.
Answering the contentment question honestly, particularly when the answer is, “No,” frees us to see the situation the way the Lord does—and that leads to the next question, the direction question: “What should I do to make [whatever] more satisfactory to the Lord?” The answer to THAT question opens up the world of stewardship action steps. Read more
I could tell you I was running a high pressure company with increasing product lines, a tight budget, and an inadequate plant for everything the start-up was trying to do. Accurate in one sense, but since what I was running was my home, most of you would say I was deluded. Home is where someone has to clean toilets.
For many, home is not much more than a decorative showplace where a few people eat and sleep and occasionally talk. The really creative, challenging life happens at school, at work, in government offices, shopping malls: virtually anywhere but home.
Home is what happens when all the creative juices have been spent somewhere more interesting and more profitable.
Well, I was at home. It was my focus and if the best it had to offer was the chance to clean toilets, I was going to be bored.
But home is not the backwash of real life. In reality, it is the production site for the world’s most complex product line: responsible, thoughtful, committed, and interesting people.
That truth made my time immeasurably valuable. I began to view time, not as a commodity filled with things to do, but as the carrier through which priorities were either attended to or neglected. Compiling the priorities and coordinating the activities that brought those priorities to fruition became my job and Priority Stewardship was born.
Read the backstory for this blog: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4
Time: Discussion about general time truths and principles are gathered here.
Daily Dose: A sequence of short, daily bits of priority stewardship information, giving you tidbits of time information every day to think about on your own time.
House Building: The house analogy gathers together all the areas an executive home builder needs to coordinate in:
If this were the best it would ever be, would I be content?
If you have asked yourself that question, do you feel a little beyond yourself, rather like you are outside of yourself and looking on? Is there a bit of a squirm in your inner self? Do you feel a wavering sense that part of you must say “No,” to be honest, but most of you wants to say, “Yeah, sure, whatever,” either because you know you should be content, or you don’t really want to face squarely the alternative? Read more
Priority Stewardship 