Time
Manhood from 5-9
by on Feb 4th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
The way we employ the surplus hours after provision has been made for work, meals, and sleep will determine if we develop into mediocre or powerful people.”
- J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership, p. 93
If you wish to become a leader in your work, organization, church, family, or marriage, you will need to master the use of your “extra” time. What you do with this undirected time will make all the difference in your life, and I wish that someone had hammered this point over my head far sooner than when J. Oswald Sanders did at age 22.
Undirected time can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how we have utilized it in our lives. Some men have used this time by strengthening their bodies, earning extra degrees, serving people without need for pay, developing stronger relationships with their wives and children, sitting at the feet of Jesus and His Word, or trembling before the throne of the Most High God in fervent prayer. Men like this start the next day better equipped than those who warm the couch, fill their stomachs, feed their lusts, or chase their dreams, literally.
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Leadership Library Spotlight
by on Feb 5th, 2010 at 2:00 am
Book: Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, Revised Edition
Author: Richard A. Swenson, M.D.
"A man from Mali, West Africa told me, ‘You Americans have all the watches, but we have all the time." p. 125
One of the guiding principles of the Leadership Library for this site is to provide you with resources that are worth buying and keeping for many years to come. Books come and go, so if you have limited funds (like me), you want to invest your money into books that will prove to be as helpful in 2030 as they are in 2010. Richard Swenson’s book, Margin, ideally suits this principle.
Because I live on a college campus, I often overhear (a.k.a. eavesdrop) conversations from students who share with one another how tired and stressed they are. They’ll inevitably complain about some exam, quiz, project, or absurd homework assignment and then shift to how such work is cutting into the demands of their social life and extra-curricular activities. Now, I have tried to learn a lesson from my uber-patient professors when I was the college student making the same complaints by not saying a word. However, a part of me wants to grab them by the collar, look them in the eye, and say, “You have no idea how easy you have it right now!” Of course, if a forty-year old professor or administrator saw me do this, they would probably be justified in telling me how easy I have it!