In the September edition of OurJourney, Pastor James MacDonald included an excerpt from a message he once preached entitled “Fired Up About Forgiveness.” It really impacted me so I would like to pass it along to you as you begin a new week. I hope it impacts you as it did me. (I am going to edit it some).
“If you want to survive, there are some things you have to have. For example, you have to be able to manage your time. If you can’t manage your time…with all of the people grabbing and pulling at you, you have a big problem. Time management is a survival skill.
You have to be able to deal with stress. If you can’t deal with stress, you’re going down. You have to have a plan. You have to be able to put the heavy stuff on you off or you’re going to be on your face. True or false?
You’re going to have to be able to forgive people or you’re not going to make it. If every time something happens to you, a big or a little thing, or crosses you or if every time somebody slights you or if every time somebody insults you or you put it in your bag and add it to your trailer and tow it around through life, you’re not going to make it. You absolutely have to be able to forgive…My goal is that every single one of us would take every grudge and every hurt feeling and every wrong or every deliberate slight that has been done to you or you have received in every incidence of abuse that you have experienced, that you would forgive it….’That’s a lofty goal. That’s impossible.’ With men it is impossible, but with God nothing is impossible.”
Yeah, hit me between the eyeballs, why don’t you James? Believe it or not, I do pretty well with the forgiveness part and dealing with stress. I don’t always do so well in the managing time department. Like many others, I have trouble saying NO. For many years it was because of the need for approval. Fear of offending people. Fear they would get mad and not like me. I suppose if I am totally honest there are some vestiges of that still hanging around. Part of it is because I am simply a “nice guy.” 😉 In reality, I don’t know why I have trouble saying No. So time management is a definite problem.
What about you? Which of these three slammed you to the mat? Care to share? I would love to hear from you. In the meantime, have a fascinating week.
For me, stress and time management overlap. Usually, if I have my time organized, my stress level is okay. Walking about 3 miles a day has helped with both.
Usually. I had a difficult week last week because I babysat my 2-year-old granddaughter for like seven hours on the 27th so my son-in-law could take my daughter out for her birthday. Ellie is a beautiful, wonderful little girl, but I have to admit it’s taken me until today to get my world right side up again. There’s a reason why 59-year-old women generally don’t have babies.
🙂
Walking is good Susan. I cope a lot with stress by my cycling. As for the g-daughter. You made me laugh. I have been known to say quite often that I now know why God gave children to younger parents. 😛 Gotta love them though.
Hi Bill,
For me it is stress and time management. My life is simple so I don’t have to say ‘no’ too many times.
The legal case I had from January to June took alot out of me this year. We are still waiting for the judgment to come from the Trial Justice. I haven’t heard anything to date.
In the past, when I was younger, I had to deal with the forgiveness issue. Once I got victory over past hurts in my life it has been much easier for me to overlook offences and hurts now.
I still get hurt but
it doesn’t stay with me very long. I make the decision to forgive these offences and hurts and then I seldom think about them and even if I do the hurt is not there anymore.
God’s ways are wonderful.
Wise choice (forgiveness) and wise words Linda. Thanks for the comment.
I have a problem with time management. My mum has always told me to do one thing completely before going to do another thing. Sometimes, I’m able to do one thing at a time and other times, I leave one task halfway done and move to the next one and leave it halfway done and on and on and on it goes.
The worst thing I’ve done with my time is doing two things simultaneously. I have to confess that it doesn’t help at all. Someone once said: “To do two things at once is to do neither.” and I think I understand why.
we suffer some from the same problem Mercy. When I was in high school my employer used to sit me down and talk to me about leaving things undone. Stock shelves, wait on people, clean tables, all needed to be done. Sometimes I left the shelves askew. Good advice your mum gave you. For me, it is also a good quote since I don’t multi-task very well. Thanks for the comment.
If I had to choose one of these three – forgiveness would be the one I struggle with the most. Time Management is normally not too much of an issue. Stress I tend to handle pretty well and forgiveness I do well with it when it comes to some people and some areas but others it is a battle. I find when you hurt my family it is harder for me to forgive than if something is just done to me.
I’m with you on the family thing, Jim. My wife very seldom gets too upset EXCEPT when someone is hurting her chicks or me. Thanks for commenting.
Definitely the time managment part. I said I was going to turn over a new leaf last week ( but I am late). I am sick of being late everywhere I go!
I am praying and trying to do a better job of listing my to do’s and praying for wisdom to prioritize and better understanding how long tasks will take. Thanks for this Bill, very timely!
Good to hear from you Tom. I know your life right now has you by the throat. 🙂 I appreciate your sensitivity to God’s leading though. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Time management is probably the worst area for me. I handle stress fairly well and I feel that I’m a forgiving person. But I often have issues managing my time well. I tend to easily get side tracked. If I plan out my day with what I’m going to do and when I’m going to do it. I often times end up scrapping that whole plan because I end up going off schedule and doing something that doesn’t fit in my plan for that day. I could definitely do a better job in the area of time management.
Hope you also have a great week Bill.
Been there done that Joseph. Way too often to be healthy. 😛 You are young. Make sure you get a hold of it now and it will make a huge difference in your life. Thanks for the comment.
Wow. Probably a combination of time management/stress. Budgeting/making use of time is something that I’m still working on.
Amazing how those two often go together. Failure to manage time leads to stress and being under stress will lead to poor time management. Like I told Joseph: you are young. Get a hold of it now. Thanks Jon.
I guess I do still let stress get the best of me SOMETIMES. I ahve learned in Al-Anon to BREATHE! To not react. I TRY…..Sometimes I am good, sometimes not. I think I manage my time pretty well, in fact I get bored sometimes:) This really has me thnking though! Pinky
Sort of like sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t. We all have those time Pinky when winning seems to come more easily than other times. Glad it got you thinking. Thanks for coming by.
As far as getting slammed, I will have to go with some one crossing me or backstabbing me. I find it hard to forget or forgive considering all that I do for most people around here. However, I do forgive in time but I never forget.
Stress? What me worry? Yes I do have stress but I tend to pass the buck in that department. I put my trust in God’s ability to guide me in stressful times and I deal with the petty issues like paying for all the Dr. and hospital bills from my recent Liver scare.
Yes I do have the new Obama Care ( revised Medicare) Insurance to my surprise. Well there goes my trip to the French Chateaus this winter and no more prime rib steaks for awhile.
Backstabbing is sometimes hard to get over, especially when it is from someone you thought was a friend. I may get in trouble with this but I am not sure we can ever truly humanly forget. Forgiveness can be done. Forgetting is tougher. Thanks Larry for coming by. Hope you are feeling better.
Forgiveness and stress are not the hard ones for me, but time and focus can be. I’m figuring this out and working through the process. At the moment, I’m trying not to trade busy work for busy work. I could explain that, but it would take too long. Needless to say, you and I are on the same page! Thanks Bill. 🙂
Trade busy work for busy work. Well put Jason. Way too easy getting caught up in busy work that really takes us nowhere. Thanks for finding time to come by my friend.
Managing time is one of my biggest downfalls. It is getting better, but it is still often a problem. Got to keep on keeping on.
If you are like me Matt it will be a lifelong struggle. No easy answer, no matter what some propose. Thanks for the visit.