Some simple, direct advice from God
The "bottom line": that's what we want at work. There's so much to get done, so little time. Pressure from customers, bosses, colleagues waiting for a piece of the project to get done so the darn thing can be put together and presented to a customer or senior management. It's endless.
God's got some bottom line stuff that fits very nicely into the busy-pressure-bottom line pattern of our work. Try this from Proverbs 8: "Receive my instruction, and not money: choose knowledge rather than gold."
Get it? There's no beating around the bush; nothing complicated. It's right in front of you now.
So what's it going to be? Will you keep filling in every waking moment with your thoughts focused on business, on the bottom line?
Or will you give some time to what's really important, what's more precious than gold?
Proverbs focuses us on the importance of seeking wisdom and understanding. You can read a chapter a day - or every once in a while. If you're like me, you'll read each chapter at least twice (e.g., one morning, then again the next morning) so you can really absorb what God's saying.
So what happens then? You'll take away a bit of wisdom here, some understanding there. And those bits will build up after a while into more full-fledged ideas that will come out just when you need them most.
When do you do this sort of reading? Spiritual writers and directors recommend you have a routine. It should consist of reading some scripture (like Proverbs), some spiritual reading (from a reliable spiritual writer) and even some reading about Church teachings (doctrinal reading). You should do this every day. I do it in the morning, before everyone else gets up. If I don't do it then, the day gets away from me.
I used to spend time first thing on business matters. I put gold first. Then I changed all that. Now I put God first instead of gold.
Oh, and just in case I didn't state my point clearly enough, here's what God has to say: "For wisdom is better than the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it." (Proverbs 8: 11)
There, He said it a lot better than I did, didn't He?
God's got some bottom line stuff that fits very nicely into the busy-pressure-bottom line pattern of our work. Try this from Proverbs 8: "Receive my instruction, and not money: choose knowledge rather than gold."
Get it? There's no beating around the bush; nothing complicated. It's right in front of you now.
So what's it going to be? Will you keep filling in every waking moment with your thoughts focused on business, on the bottom line?
Or will you give some time to what's really important, what's more precious than gold?
Proverbs focuses us on the importance of seeking wisdom and understanding. You can read a chapter a day - or every once in a while. If you're like me, you'll read each chapter at least twice (e.g., one morning, then again the next morning) so you can really absorb what God's saying.
So what happens then? You'll take away a bit of wisdom here, some understanding there. And those bits will build up after a while into more full-fledged ideas that will come out just when you need them most.
When do you do this sort of reading? Spiritual writers and directors recommend you have a routine. It should consist of reading some scripture (like Proverbs), some spiritual reading (from a reliable spiritual writer) and even some reading about Church teachings (doctrinal reading). You should do this every day. I do it in the morning, before everyone else gets up. If I don't do it then, the day gets away from me.
I used to spend time first thing on business matters. I put gold first. Then I changed all that. Now I put God first instead of gold.
Oh, and just in case I didn't state my point clearly enough, here's what God has to say: "For wisdom is better than the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it." (Proverbs 8: 11)
There, He said it a lot better than I did, didn't He?
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