freedom

by

Real Freedom May Not Be At The End Of Your Hard Work

Sometimes you work hard to give yourself more freedom later, only to be disappointed when that anticipated freedom becomes available.

freedom

That was my experience the other day. I was trying to finish a talk I was scheduled to give in two days because I didn’t want to have to work on it the next day.

I was tired and wanted some freedom the next day – some time off. I didn’t have plans; I just knew I needed some time to myself.

So I worked at it all day – even when the ideas were flowing more like a frozen lake than a rapidly moving river in the spring. 

I found out late in the afternoon that my evening engagement was cancelled so I just kept on working through the dinner hour. I put my head down and kept writing. In fact, I got on a bit of a roll, and it was then that I determined to finish the talk, no matter what, so that I wouldn’t have to work on it the next day.

The thought of having a free day inspired me to keep going. I didn’t make a list of things I wanted to do; just the idea of being able to do whatever I wanted was so appealing right then.

By 8 pm I had finally finished my talk. It was a huge relief, a weight off my shoulders. 

But I still was not quite finished. 

If I wanted to be really free the next day, there were a couple more things I needed to do. I spent the next twenty minutes putting my power point deck together for my presentation. I then put together the online outline and uploaded it to the server. I printed a copy of my talk and then put my computer copy in a format for my iPad. 

By 9 pm I was done. I left the office tired but feeling really good. I was ready for a full day off.

Life was good; I felt free. I was looking forward to the next day.

The next morning, I started the day with a 7 am hockey game. Then the rest of the day was all mine. 

What do you do when you have a whole day in front of you and you have no responsibilities? 

Well, let me tell you what you do: you make a plan. Right away, immediately, you make a plan so that you use your freedom to give you maximum enjoyment and fulfillment. 

… You don’t do what I did. 

I put absolutely no thought into what I wanted to do. I just had this idea of being free for a day, but I didn’t plan anything for that free time. 

When the end of my day off came, I felt that I had wasted my freedom. I didn’t do anything of consequence because I hadn’t thought of what I might want to do. 

When what you are looking forward to is vast and vague, you will never be happy with the outcome unless you make a concrete plan.

Here’s the thing: The idea of complete bliss and unending tranquility when life is over will not materialize unless you have a plan for it now. Plan now for what you want your future to look like by putting your faith in Jesus Christ and trusting your life and future to Him. Then, when all your work in this life is over, you won’t be disappointed. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Right now how will you go about making your plan for the future? Leave you comments and questions below.

by

My Free Time Got Fried!

Why is it that when time is freed up from one thing, it is so easily filled by something else?

Cool-Polar-Bear-Photos-Im-not-lazy.-Im-just-highly-motivated-to-do-nothing.

When you get a break from a regular task or project that gives you all kinds of freedom to work on something else. But what invariably happens is other things and people come along, take bits of that freed up time and leave you with nothing.

I’m not sure anyone else experiences this phenomenon but it happens to me every time I get a break from preaching.

The last two weeks I haven’t had to speak on Sunday which freed up a large amount of time I would spend studying and writing sermons.

That freedom was welcomed because I have some extra events around Christmas, some planning for early in the new year and a sermon to have ready a couple of days after Christmas.

So, though I did not have to preach, I had lots I needed to work on – the freed up time was something I needed.

However, now that I’m at the end of those two weeks, I didn’t get done nearly what I needed to and the hopes of having an easy, no pressure, leisurely Christmas is kind of out the window right now.

There are a few reasons why this happens to me, and I can pretty much predict it to happen every time I get a break from sermon prep.

First, I feel a little freer than normal. Without that thought in the back of my mind of needing to have a message ready for next Sunday, I kind of let my guard down.

I don’t protect my time as much as I do when I have to write a sermon. I will chat with people longer, and be open to making appointments at times I never would if I was working on a message for Sunday.

Secondly, I find that I am less focussed. I might be working on something but then become aware of something else that needs my attention. I will drop what I was working on and start plugging away on this new interest.

I’ll know that I shouldn’t be spending the time on this new project, but my lack of focus keeps me drifting from one thing that catches my fancy to something else.

Thirdly, I find I’m just not as motivated as when I have a sermon to produce. There is something about having the pressure of a deadline that keeps you moving in that direction. But when the pressure is gone, sometimes the motivation is missing too.

What it all comes down to is discipline. When I let my guard down, or am less focussed, or not very motivated, what it really means is I have not disciplined myself to use my time in the best possible way.

Man, next week is going to be busy!

Here’s the thing: When you get out of routine with God, whether that is attending church, spending time with Him alone, serving Him in some capacity, or learning more about Him by yourself or with others, what you find is that time gets used up by other things. If you don’t discipline yourself with God, you will find that you let your guard down to other things, you are less focussed on Him and you lack motivation for God. Stay disciplined.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What gets in the way of your routine with God? Leave your comment below.

by

Vacation Pain

“Back to the salt mines.” One of my buddies used to say that after noon hockey. He didn’t actually work in a salt mine, but he did have to go back to work. I guess after playing shinny, the idea of work seemed unpleasant.

CIMG8790

If you are someone who works in a salt mine, I’m not saying your work is hard and undesirable; it’s just an expression.

So, if a guy feels that way after an hour or so of hockey, how is one supposed to feel going back to work after a month of vacation? It’s not like my church has a secret tunnel in the basement that leads to large rooms of white crystal rock that I have to break apart all day.

But I do have some apprehensions going back after vacation. In any line of work, there are things you look forward to and things you don’t, things you enjoy doing and things you don’t.

Your work can be 90% enjoyable, invigorating, motivating and a few other desirable “atings”, but it’s that smaller percentage that weighs you down and has you wishing the vacation isn’t coming to an end.

So, at the end of vacation, you develop a little schizophrenia: part of you can’t wait to get back and another part of you wants to put on the brakes and stay where you are.

What happens is you start to act differently. You don’t have the same relaxed, carefree attitude you had a few days earlier. You go to the beach, but you don’t chill at the beach; you begin to strategize.

The water becomes your goals that are so hard to take hold of, the sand is like time that slips through your fingers and the people lying on the beach become the steps to how you will get to the water before the sand runs out.

You try to savour your last days of vacation, but your wife looks at you while you stare off in the distance and says, “See, he’s already back at work.”

There is no way to get back to the “chilaxed” zone you were in only a matter of days before. A switch has been turned on and it doesn’t matter how hot the sun is and how good it feels to sit under your beach umbrella sipping a Dr. Pepper, digging your feet in the sand, as you read or catch a few winks. You are there, but not really there.

Instead, you are sitting in your office sorting the mail that piled up, trying to make headway on hundreds of emails, all while getting back into the rhythm of your work.

Then you wake up, take a sip of your pop, wipe the drool from the corner of your mouth, glance at the people walking along the beach, and get back to reading your book. It was all a dream, a big scary dream. You still have 3 days of vacation left to enjoy.

Here’s the thing: Like the burden of work that overcomes us at the end of vacation, the burdens of sin, shame or self doubt can weigh us down even after we’ve confessed them. But God wants to take those burdens from us. We have to figure out how we can off-load those burdens to Him and not take them back.

That’s life!

Paul

Question: What is the hardest thing to come back to after your vacation?  Leave your comment below.