One of the constant pieces of my job is to try and determine what sorts of intervention or supports we can put into place to make a student or the entire school more successful. The sort of underlying idea being: whatever support we are considering will be given more weight if we can achieve our desired outcome, but do so with the least amount of effort or toll on the resources we have available.
For example, I can come up with a detailed plan to shape behavior in a classroom for a student, but if the plan is too complicated, or requires too many steps for a teacher to weave into their existing methods of running the class, the likelihood of the plan actually being used is slim to none. Understandably so.
We are all sort of wired that way, aren’t we? We want to lose weight, but we don’t want to have to change all areas of our life to do so. I would much rather take a pill each morning (risking my health) than I would eat less, eat differently, and move more. I prefer the least amount of effort. For many of us, we want to increase our wealth and standard of living, but we’d prefer to have that happen with as little effort as possible. We really don’t want to change our spending habits in any significant way, and we aren’t really interested
The same can be said for my spiritual growth. It is not uncommon for me to hear from others that they desire to grow spiritually. They want to be closer to God. In fact, when I hear that, I sort of get excited for them! And yet, much like the other areas in our lives, they want to get the greatest outcome with very little to no effort being put in. They want the blessing of God, the nearness of God, but do not want to put forth the energy and time into investing in that relationship.
Friend, if there is one thing – one area of our lives where we should be investing our time, our energy, our focused attention – it should be in the area of our relationship with God. This is not an area where we should cut corners. This is not an investment we can afford to slack on. The truth is that nothing in our lives matters more. There is no area in our lives – no relationship, no “thing” – that has the ability to bring every other part of our lives into a state of blessing. My relationship with God and the investment I make there pours into everything else I do. Everything else my life touches. My relationship with God strengthens my marriage relationship. My relationship with God guides and protects my parenting relationships. My relationship with God provides me with the wisdom and skills I need for my work place each day. It impacts my finances and spending. It impacts my interactions with people. It impacts how I view myself and others.
I know that my time invested with God – learning and growing in my understanding and love for Him is time well spent. Literally, in every area of my life, this small thing – carving out time for Him – has the largest and best outcome over anything else I could do.
It is my hope and prayer, that we would focus on what really matters and put into place habits of investing in that which will change our lives – but more than that – the lives of all those our lives touch.
Blessings!
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