Happy Tuesday!

Congratulations to Kristin Via… thanks for commenting on yesterdays blog. I loved reading through the VERBS of YOUR weekend. Very enlightening! Everyone else… you should TRY it… go back to yesterdays blog and do the FUN exercise! Kristin, I’m curious to know what kinds of things you learned about yourself during that ten minutes? Maybe we’re all curious?

I guess what I’m trying to do here… is in a very gently way… lead each of us to trace our recent steps… to DISCOVER what were really up to with our lives.

Yesterdays blog was my version of an old time management assessment exercise. The experts say that in order to cut out non-productivity and cut down the chaos in our lives, we have to TRACE OUR STEPS for a week… and then ANALYZE the data.

In order to do this successfully, there is a demand for HONEST DATA. We have to be willing to LOOK at our lives… not the fantasy versions we describe to our friends and our bosses… but the real deal everyday US… the good bad and the ugly.

This is why I chose a WEEKEND for our exercise… because weekends are SUPPOSED to be our resting days… and we don’t feel like we have anything to PROVE to ourselves or to anyone else when tracing our weekend steps. But still, there is so much to be learned from the VERBS of a weekend, isn’t there?

Jesus described our lives like branches on a tree… branches that needed to be pruned from time to time so they can become MORE FRUITFUL! This means that over time, activities we once deemed as highly productive areas of our lives… they run their course and become sources of pain and death.

We need to be continually on the lookout for these dead places on our branches.

As we analyze the HONEST DATA… we have to demonstrate courage to PRUNE back every FRUITLESS VERB from our months, weeks, days, and HOURS.

Going through this process is a spring cleaning for the SOUL! Once the clutter has been removed, we are poised for NEWNESS! Creativity emerges… growth happens… delicious fruit is gathered and tasted!

More than the personal reward found in this exercise, is the accountability to GOD it creates in our hearts. How accountable are we currently feeling towards God for the VERBS of our lives? What percentage of our time is God ACTUALLY leading the way? On the contrary, what percentage of our days are spent in fruitless activities?

Don’t you think its time to fix up your branch… to ready yourself for the most EFFECTIVE and FRUITFUL season of your life? Me too!

Pruning positions us to rest more effectively, work more effectively, parent more effectively, minister to others more effectively, and live FAR MORE effectively? It all begins with a transparent tracing of your daily steps… an honest recording of your VERBS.

Here we go again… another OPPORTUNITY FOR INTERACTION. Today… re-read yesterdays blog and consider doing the VERY SAME assignment for YESTERDAY (A MONDAY)!

I hope todays blog adds tremendous value to your amazing lives… we love you and we PRAY for you! Please leave your VERBS… and have a super day!