I wanted to post these words of wisdom from …My Winning Words©.
We so many times feel we have to do everything, be in pain when we “workout” and we leave out the balance of enjoyment of movement. Enjoy these words. They them soak into your heart and body.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,
as working for the Lord, not for men.
Colossians 3:23
Business management consultants often stress the importance of balancing P and PC, where P stands for production and PC represents the physical assets that make production possible. To illustrate how this formula works, one consultant uses the example of a power lawn mower he purchased to help him maintain his yard. This weekend gardener used the mower over and over again without doing anything to maintain it. Then, after working efficiently for two years, the mower began to break down—and little by little it ceased to function as it was designed and created to work.
Although the distraught owner tried to revive the worn-out mower with service and sharpening, he learned the importance of the P/PC balance the hard way. His mower had been damaged beyond repair; through neglect, the once efficient engine had lost over half of its original power capacity. And, due to that significant loss of power, the mower was essentially useless.
Had the owner invested PC and preserved and maintained the asset, rather than just concerning himself with the P—the production capacity of the mower—he would have saved himself the time and money it cost to replace the old mower with a new one. From that lesson learned the hard way, this consultant can now say from personal experience: “Keeping P and PC in balance makes a tremendous difference in the effective use of a physical asset.”
And, while it is easy for us to understand this concept when it comes to machinery, this P and PC balance is not only applicable to physical assets like lawn mowers, cars, computers, and household appliances. In our quest for short-term results and instant rewards, we often damage the most prized physical asset of all: the wonderfully-made body God has given us to do his work here on earth. When P (Production) and PC (Personal Care) are not in balance, we begin to break down too. Little by little, we cease to function as God designed and fashioned us to work. Our power and effectiveness diminish and soon we find ourselves trying to do more and more with less and less. Instead of serving the Lord with gladness, we feel burdened and weary.
Although we are called to work at what we are doing with all our heart as if we were working for God, that concept is only half of what the Bible teaches about work. The other half of our Master’s instruction regarding work has to do with rest. That instruction was perfectly illustrated when Jesus’ disciples were so busy they didn’t even have time to eat, and Jesus invited them to come away with him to a deserted place and rest. Jesus also honored his own physical need for rest; he withdrew from the crowds to which he ministered so that he could spend quiet time in prayer. What the Son of God found necessary for both himself and the disciples of old should not be neglected by his modern-day disciples! There is an ebb-and-flow rhythm to life and Christ—a rhythm of grace. Therefore, none of us should ever feel guilty when we honor our physical body’s need for rest.
Society calls a lack of P/PC balance burn out. God, however, calls it wrong priorities! When we go for the instant rewards at the expense of our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being—when our P and PC are out of balance—we are not doing the things that please the One we are called to serve. God invites us to care for ourselves because he cares for us. Remember: In God’s kingdom the steward is more important than the service!
Which leads to a couple of questions most of us would prefer not to answer: Are you destroying God’s temple in the name of busyness and service? Are you neglecting the basic maintenance and repair found in the wisdom of balancing rest and work in your quest for instant results? Caring for this wonderfully created body God has fashioned for us is an essential part of the P/PC balance that gives honor and glory to our Creator. Our Lord calls us to honor Him with our bodies and to live and move and have our being in him—not live a life of driven-ness devoid of his wisdom that balances productivity with rest. Christ gives us strength for the impossible only if we have first taken time to draw our strength from him during quiet, restful times of sitting at the Master’s feet and learning from him.
A tired-out, burned-out Christian
is a contradiction in terms.
~~Lloyd Ogilvie
Winning Words: the Word of God to encourage, strengthen,
comfort, assure, and give hope to the people of God.