Use It Or Lose It | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Use It Or Lose It | Previous Challenge Entry
By Naoma Bird
03/13/24
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Use It or Lose It

The CEO of a prestigious magazine that covered positive real-life stories from local, regional, and world events was called away to help start a new publication in another town. Being unsure of when he might return he met
with three staff writers to give them instructions regarding what each one's responsibility would be for the next three months. Each one was given a specific writing assignment according to their abilities.

The first writer was to write the feature article for each month. The second writer was to write a human-interest article each month, and the third writer’s assignment was to write an article each month focused on a local event in the community.

Each writer knew their CEO was very particular about articles submitted to
the magazine and often rejected those he didn’t approve. He expected the quality of the work to reflect company policies, keep pace within the publishing world, relate to readers; and at the same time increase circulation to more readers and increase revenue.

Three months later the CEO returned and called a meeting with the writers to discuss the work they had done.

Writer one spoke first: “Each month I searched current events to see what was happening in business, education, and society as a whole and reported on the one thing that might be of interest to the majority of our readers. At the end of three months, our circulation increased twenty percent.”

The CEO responded, “Great job, because you did well with these articles I am promoting you to the chief editor.”

Writer two reported: “I watched for news stories each month, stories about people who went out of their way to help others, both friends and strangers, even at the risk of physical harm or financial loss. At the end of the three months, there was a notable increase in social interaction in our local area
with people helping in areas where volunteers were needed like shelters, soup kitchens, and food banks.”

The CEO responded: “You’ve done well. By making these needs known you
have shown how we can be a blessing and encouragement to others giving
them hope. I am giving you a monthly column for writing about social concerns in our area and abroad and how others can get involved.”

Writer three hesitantly responded: “Well, I didn’t write anything on local events. When I looked at what events were happening in our area each month I felt none of them would have been up to your standards. All of them were small events. Knowing you would not think them worthy of interest to most people it wouldn’t increase your readership or benefit you financially. Therefore, I refrained from writing any articles but instead left room for more important articles.”

The CEO responded: “You are a disgrace to the writing profession and will be fired and escorted out of the building. Your job will be given to another who is willing to use his writing ability to help others even if there is risk involved or no guarantee of a benefit to him. You judged me to be critical of events too small to bother with yet you did a disservice to our community by not providing information about events, many of which were done specifically to support and enhance the community itself. You should have looked closer at the events to see the purpose and impact they might have on the community and choose one that would have the largest benefit for most people to write, it would have helped some. But because you wrote about none many may have missed out because they weren’t aware of it.”

God has entrusted each of us with certain gifts and abilities and has a plan for us to use them to serve others and His Kingdom. He provides opportunities for us to use them no matter what ability it is, big or small, it doesn’t matter.
What matters is that we step out in faith and use it. The impact God is looking for isn’t popularity, wealth, or power for us. It is an impact that will honor Christ as we obey and use what we have to share His message of love, hope, and salvation. Then the Lord will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. I Peter 4:10 ESV

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