Back on 10th November 2004 I saw this devotional on www.word4U2day.com.au I printed it out and tucked it away. I saw the printout recently and with the launch of the new website for word4U2day I thought it was a good reminder for us all. If you haven’t registered yet then visit the new website and sign up.

Wednesday, 10 November 2004

Help, God – the bottom has fallen out!…

Psalm 130:1 TM
If you burn the candle at both ends, you aren’t as bright as you think! In these times of working harder but achieving less you can get irritable and cynical and lose your sense of humour. David was there: “Help, God – the bottom has fallen out.” If that describes how you feel sometimes, here are two helpful suggestions:

1) Don’t go it alone. The Bible says that on the seventh day: “God…rested from all his work” (Genesis 2:3 TM). And rest is still one of His priorities for your life. But that can be a problem when you’re a one-man band. Check out Moses. He had trouble sharing out the responsibility for keeping two million Israelites happy in the wilderness! Finally, he told God: “I cannot carry all these people…the burden is too heavy…kill me…now” (See Numbers 11:14-15 NIV). Wow! Now that’s major burnout! And what was God’s response? “I never told you to do it all yourself. There are talented people all around you just waiting to be asked. Don’t be a plonker Mo’ – get them involved!”

2) Nobody’s perfect. Chuck Braun runs a company called Idea Connection Systems and gives all his trainees ‘a mistake quota’. It works like this: each person can make up to 30 mistakes during a session with nothing to worry about. If anyone uses up all 30, Chuck gives them another 30, then another. And the result? They learn to see their mistakes as a creative process and begin thinking of them as part of the learning curve. And you need to do that too!