As a seminarian, I was asked to write and deliver a paper to a special forum of students and faculty. Typically, I put off writing the paper until the deadline loomed and then cut two days of classes to complete the assignment. When I had finished reading the paper and the audience had responded with applause and left the auditorium, a professor whose classes I'd dodged in order to write the paper found me and said, "Gordon, that was a good paper, but it lacked the possibility of greatness. Do you want to know why?"

I could hardly say no, and so he continued.

"You sacrificed your routine responsibilities to write it," he said. "Your ministry will not be successful if you make this sort of a thing a habit."

You listen carefully to an insight like that because it comes from a man forty years your senior whom you respect. He was less interested in the content of my presentation than he was the character pattern that framed its writing. The paper would soon be forgotten (I can't remember anything about it now), but the work habits it revealed would continue the rest of my life if I didn't alter them.

He saw this; I did not. His rebuke caused me to reform my work ethic.

--

I love this article. I've learned a lot from Gordon Macdonald's writings, and this article is somewhat relevant to a problem that I'm facing right now. I know God has given me enough for me to produce good results. But He has made it a point that I still have to work hard to produce great results.

And I'm struggling.

There are so many things that I can do - opportunities that I see that comes my way. And I find myself so tempted to score at every single one of these opportunities that I sacrifice the quality of the routine stuff that I am responsible for.

I don't think what I'm doing is right, and this problem has been on my mind for the past few days. I guess God had helped me in zeroing in on the problem by linking me up with Gordon Macdonald's article.

I think I know what He is saying. He wants me to clearly understand what is important in my life and where I am going. Make sure that nothing compromises that. And with the spare resources that I have, only go for other opportunities and other gigs. He is saying I should have a system for following leads, for connecting with people and managing relationships. I cannot do this the old way anymore.

Gordon Macdonald said, "Listen carefully ... Your whole future may be marching before your eyes.... someone has put a finger on a character quality that stands between you and your dreams."

For me, that someone is God himself through Gordon's words.

Thank You God.