Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday January 6, 2011

The New Year is swiftly becoming just another year and it will be that unless we are willing to make some serious choices about just how we use our Tremendous Trilogy; Time, Talent, Treasure.

In the proper use of these three gifts we all have to one degree or another, the richest or poorest must make choices. Douglas Southall Freeman, Editor of the Richmond News Leader for 34 years and author of several famous books, one on George Washington and another on Robert E. Lee and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, passed on some of his collected wisdom as to how he was able to accomplish so much during his life with this gem:

"In deciding what you're going to do, your first decision must be what you're not going to do. To do, you must leave undone. Priorities, priorities."

The condensed version; "To do, you must leave undone."

If I could say it better I would.

Late last year I made a "To Do" list for 2011 and I was am amazed at how it started coming together the very day I made the list of things I must do and a list things I must stop doing in order to use/redeem my time more wisely in the achievement of the primary things related to my calling. Some of the "not to do's" involved some pain as they involved disengaging from activities and a few people that were at best "great wasters of time." This is not to say that people are a waste of time, but it is possible to waste so much time sitting around in coffee klatches (gossip) talking about doing something, when the time spent could have been used far more effectively. You get the idea. I am still working on the list, but it is already much shorter.

By calling I am a preacher/teacher which aside from study means hours of actually speaking or writing to a large group such as this daily letter, or talking to one person via the phone who has a gun in their hand and may pull the trigger. I am not kidding. I have started to use techniques I learned long ago to shorten most phone calls as they should take about 30 seconds and can drag into hours of klatches.

The truth be known deciding what NOT to do is much harder than the reverse.

When I realize that I am running around like a chicken with its' head cut off I have found it profitable to ask, "What am I really accomplishing." Busy is not always wise, being busy for busies sake is often a serious waste of time and effort. Moses knew this when wrote in Psalms 90:12:

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

I suppose Moses learned the wisdom of "To do, you must leave undone."

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2011 Use with credit.

You may get a free letter like this one daily by emailing [email protected] with daily in the subject line. LML

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