Priorities
I love the entries where Neil tells us stories… How cool is it that he worked on the Apollo mission!
My thought was that it’s pretty obvious when we take the big events in our lives, line them up, and see which ones really matter. Probably we would all pick the right ones as most important.
But if the biggest, most important things in our lives are relational, not accomplishments or achievements, doesn’t it also hold true in the small things?
It’s a daily struggle for me to focus on my kids in the midst of all the work it takes to keep them fed and in clean clothes, etc. I don’t want the phrase they remember most from childhood to be, Just a minute, let me finish this…
Sure, tasks have to get done sometimes, but my struggle most often is in being flexible as to how and when those tasks get done. I get grumpy when I don’t get my way – I had a plan! It was going to work! I have just enough time to get this done…
How does the saying go? Man plans, and heaven laughs… I don’t think God is mean about it, but His ways are just so much higher than mine… I need His perspective in the small things as well as the big.
Sitting and reading a book to a child might not seem all that important, but my laundry won’t be on the list of what I’m held accountable at the end of my life…
What are your most important moments? Your answer doesn’t have to be deep and meaningful – we’ll just enjoy reading and celebrating with you.
Great topic today! I totally appreciate Neil pointing us back to what really matters, relationships.
ReplyDeleteFamily moment: One that drove home the importance of quantity vs. quality. When Kaelie was about 5, she and I were "who ridin' in our hooptie", um sorry about that. The transition from the desk to street is beginning to blur the lines a bit for me, what I meant to say was we were in the car together running errands. We were listening to a pastor teaching on KKLA and he said something that caught Kaelie's attention. From out of the back seat came the following, "Papa, what does it mean by .... (Sorry, I have forgotten what exactly she asked, but that really isn't the point)" Her question opened the door for me to help shape a christian world view in her little mind. I distinctly remember being struck at that moment with the following thought, "Wow, all the crafted teachable moments I have attempted up to this point, with 3 point lectures of biblical theology and personal application have NEVER opened the door in her little mind and heart like this talk we just had." It occurred to me as we continued to drive that what she (and her sisters to come) really needed from me was quantity time together. From that, the Lord would craft the teachable moments. Out of our spending as much time together as possible, the natural outflow of our relationship being built would be opened doors to her heart and mind.
Vocational: As a sergeant in SWAT, I had taken my team to numerous SWAT competitions and had never placed well. It was very discouraging personnally and professionally. My last year in the unit, I took them to a competition in Ventura. We had practiced for the competition for about 3 months. We had 6 guys on the team and only five would be competitors while the sixth would be an alternate. The week before the competition, the officer who was slotted to be the alternate beat out one of the five in practice competitions and I switched them. The day of the competition (remember, there was A LOT of pressure on us to place well from the department), the officer I had bumped up to one of the five competitor spots started out totally tanking in the first three events! The guys wanted me to pull him and I was VERY tempted to do so (I had to do well in this competition, it was my last one! Hear the ego in this?) After the third event, I pulled him aside and gave him a pep talk. I told him that he had earned the right to be a competitor vs alternate and that I believed in him. I told him that the last three events were not a measure of his skills and ability. He totally turned it around after that for the rest of the day and performed extremely well! Oh, and we ended up coming in 1st place, beating out 10 other SWAT teams and bringing home our first and so far only 1st place trophy for a SWAT competition! So coming in 1st in my last competition as the SWAT sergeant was my greatest vocational moment.... nope! Close, but nope! After the celebration of winning, as we loaded up our cars to head back to Dena, the officer pulled me aside and said through tear welling eyes, "Sarge, thanks for believing in me and leaving me in." That rocked me! Had I not already let out tears of joy (and vindication) in private after winning, I would have had more tears fall at that moment. While winning was awesome, that first place trophy is now collecting dust on display at the department. The relationship and what it did between me and the officer will never be forgotten.
Well, I was gonna tell about the time my SWAT team took second place at a competition, but since Johnny already told a SWAT story I will pick another one. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAt JPL, I was on a large team that designed, built and launched a pair of spacecraft for a mission called Deep Impact. The whole process took years and was very intense at times. We all worked long hours (some people had cots in there offices!!)...
Hmmm... you know I was gonna share about the excitement of Encounter day when we hit the comet and how that moment was awesome, but what made it awesome for me was the high fives with my team mates and the relationships I still have with many of them, but I think even bigger and more significant is this story...
All of my career in aerospace I have made a conscious choice to make family relationships first and work demands second. 3 months before the launch of Deep Impact (Jan. 2005) work was at a fever pitch. Michele was 7 months pregnant with our first child and I had told my bosses I wanted to take 6 weeks leave after our son was born. I heard various stories from people about they only took 1 or 2 weeks off, etc... I stuck to my desire for all 6 weeks and we got my work covered and the time off approved. Not long after Tyler Edward Jones came 7 weeks early and spent 18 days in the NICU. Having all that time off to be with Michele and go back and forth to the hospital was solid confirmation of my priorities and I am proud to say I made the best choice that time. I got back to work in late October and it was still crazy busy. If I had just taken a short time off I would have missed those early moments in Tyler's life and would not have been able to support Michele like I should.
Work projects will always be stacked up and running behind. God help me to keep making the right BIG choices (not too hard for me) and God please help me make the right LITTLE choices (much harder for me) so my family and friends know they are more important to me than tasks.
"Because a relationship with God is eternal, while earthly achievements last only for time. Have you sacrificed the eternal to gain the temporal?"
ReplyDelete"Relationships must always have a higher priority than temporal achievements."
One of the greatest joys of being a teacher is being able to build relationships with students. I am convinced that true teaching can only happen when students trust you and have some level of relationship with you. One of my great joys of attending WellSpring is all the relationships I have with people. I want to love people well inside and outside of church well enough that they see Jesus' love in me. I do not want to chase after money, title, prestige--letters after your name, bigger paychecks and status in this earth isn't going to mean a hill of beans in heaven! I want to continue to build relationships that lead people closer to Jesus!
Pastor Scott has said it many times (and I agree), “to truly know what your priorities are look at your calendar and your checkbook”.
ReplyDeleteMichele - My most important moments always include people I love.
My top moments include:
Holding my sister on my lap for the car ride from the hospital (yes it was the 70’s and there were no car seat/seat belt laws yet).
Raising my hand to have Jesus come into my heart, for the first time, in fifth grade at Village, they took several of us outside and onto a school bus where a teacher prayed with each one of us, I felt so special!
Marrying my best friend, Marc.
God blessing us with Emma and Jared. Our precious gifts from God.
My WellSpring Family, you are an answer to prayer.
Talking to my sister on the phone – for many years my sister lived far away and even though I could not see her as often as I wanted I felt soo connected to her while we spoke on the phone. I had to get a special phone plan just to talk to her.
Having lunch with my dad- growing up I loved the ride to high school because I had my dad all to myself and it was during these times he shared all his wisdom of life with me. There are five children in our family so there was not a lot of one-on-one time to be had with dad. As an adult I get the pleasure of having lunch with my dad and I still crave his stories filled with life’s wisdom… These lunches are even more precious for me lately, my dad was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and I want as much time with him as I can.