An early time manager, Ben Franklin famously said –
“Does thou love life?
Then do not squander time for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
All business and professional people know the value of time and how success is dependent on its good management. And as time management is the servant of other business success criteria such as the well planned strategy and the disciplined focus, we are reminded of the life and values of Steve Jobs. We discover anew his intense practice of sorting the need to do from the nice to do and we marvel at the success it produces.
And yet as Christians we also know that Jesus, driving time managers crazy ever since, constantly stopped for the interruption. Can’t you see how a movie director would play it – Jesus purposely moving along a dusty road on his way to some appointment – the healing of a sick child, throngs of people in his wake, when he feels the touch of a weakened hand on the hem of his rob. He stops and spends time with the bleeding woman, rendering him, among other things, ritually unclean and in need of time consuming purification. The camera zeros in on one of the disciples nervously checking Jesus’ schedule for the day and then moves to the parents of the sick child, anxious about the delay.
We share their concerns, but we also sense that Jesus is getting it right.
So as busy people with well planned and ordered businesses and with livelihoods dependent on turning a profit from the unforgiving hours of the day, how are we to possibly manage if Jesus calls us to stop what we’re doing and respond to the needs of our customers, clients, patients, etc? And how can we prosper if we must pause to ensure good faith, disclosure, options and fiduciary responsibilities?
As with so many things in our spiritual lives, we’re informed and encouraged in community. It’s our brothers and sisters in the faith that call us back to remembering what we know. The Tips Group we envision will be a kind of community – business and professional folks gathering regularly to share business referrals (the traditional purpose of a Tips Group), but also listening to each other’s testimony on work place discipleship opportunities realized and missed.
When I was a young man in a strange land (NYC) I had the good fortune to be taken under wing by an older, comfortable, childless couple. Mary taught me how to navigate the social world of the big city and Eddie t
aught me, the definition of success – it’s what Marley told Ebenezer. “The business of mankind is our business.”
Our Tips Group while providing tangle mutual assistance and referrals will remind of us what we know – of what Jesus and Marley and Eddie taught us.
Jim Greer
Come and grow your business while
growing your faith! Meeting days and times are being organized. If
interested, contact Jim Greer via jim@jimgreer.com or
619-985-1628.
