Tag: urgency

Categories
motivation

The Urgent and the Essential

This tweet by Henri Nouwen struck me the other day. The work environment can be dominated by the urgent. How many times have you heard, “This job is hot!” from multiple people in the same day?  We are very good at putting a high urgency on jobs, but not very good at tackling the important tasks. We end up stuck in the tyranny of the urgent.

The other day, I had a job that was suddenly hot. I soon found out that there were details missing that were crucial to the success of the job. If I had sent it to the printer without questioning the details, the job would have been done wrong. A rushed job done wrong will be late and will have waste. Urgency can cost us wasted money and time.

The temptation is to jump at the urgent. Take a breath, slow down and ask if this hot job is really important. And if it is, are all the essential details are there to make it a successful job.

Categories
motivation

Teach us to Number Our Dog Days.

I had to put my dog to sleep last week. We found out she had a mass on her spleen and it was about to rupture. She was thirteen. That’s 91 in dog years. So she had a pretty good life. Today’s featured cartoon was based on our little, sassy dog. I miss that pooch!

Last Tuesday morning, things appeared fine. We took our walk and she got her treat just like any other day. When I came home that evening, I could tell something was wrong. She acted like she couldn’t move. She appeared alarmed and in discomfort. Within twenty-four hours, she was gone.

We like to make our plans. Many times, we procrastinate with those plans and put things off to another day. But we aren’t guaranteed any days. I think of that whenever I hear of the passing of someone my age, or even younger than me.

Make the most of today, my friends. Because we just don’t know how many dog days we have left. After all, the dog days of summer are gone and it is already autumn.

Categories
church cartoons

New Cartoon: When the Important Becomes Urgent

cartoon of a pastor in a pulpit, looking at a bird in a nest. The pastor says, "I propose we fix the roof!"

I’ve been around church buildings long enough to know there is always something to be fixed. There is always a roof to be fixed or a boiler to be maintained. There are always potholes in the parking lot or an unsightly stain in the fellowship hall. How did that stain get way up there anyway?

Those things are important for the life of a church. I heard the story about a church that had plenty of money in reserve but feared using any of it to maintain the church. A board member was shocked when he learned passerby’s thought the church was abandoned. I wonder if they had a nest on the pulpit?

I drew this for the November 2016 Church of God Ministries e-newsletter.