What part of the process are you working on? 

What part of the process brings out your best work?

What part of the process most engages your heart and mind?

(I have discovered that dictation in my writing app places a, anywhere I pause for very long. It also has a hard time distinguishing between the words sentence and senates. For example, take a look at the previous senates, or sentences.)

I enjoy coaching, consulting, and training. Each of these processes is made up of several parts. At any given time, I’m working on different parts of these processes with multiple groups and individuals. Regardless of the process, I enjoy some things more than others. I’m guessing you’re probably that way as well.

I work with a couple of people who are really good at getting things started. Fortunately, I also work with a couple of people who are really good at finishing things. Starters and finishers need each other. 

Each member in a relay race has that part of the race which is his or her specialty. Some are good at starting. Others are good at finishing. The other two in the middle are just as important because, without them, the race is only half-run.

Half-run races win no medals. Ask me about this sometime. Or maybe not. Forty-five years is not long enough to salve some painful memories.

Here we are on this timeline of human history. We have hazy understandings of how everything got started. Genesis chapters 1-3 are helpful to us at this point. However, you may have noticed it leaves some questions unanswered. Some people are quite comfortable with those questions remaining unanswered. Others are not.

Whatever your comfort level with human history, you’re right in the middle of it. Maybe not the middle, maybe closer to the front. Possibly closer to the end. I remember hearing preachers when I was a teenager talk about what life was going to be like by the year 2000. Most of their predictions were completely wrong. Similarly, prognosticators in education, government, and business had their predictions. One of those predictors said, “By the year 2020, we will have flying cars.” A photo last week showed a burrito wrapper with these words printed on it: “Do not eat.”

It’s hard to expect flying cars when you have to tell people not to eat the burrito wrapper.

History and the failure of predictions should remind us of our need for humility. There’s been a lot that has gone on before us. Chances are, a lot will go on after we are gone. We were not responsible for what happened before we got here. We will not be responsible, for the most part, for what happens after we’re gone. 

What we do now, what we do today, matters. We can improve on what happened before us, or we can improve what will happen after we’re gone, or we will waste the opportunities God has given us today.

This day will never come again. We have to make the most of it. This does not mean that we need to rush anything. Never rush anything essential. Today is essential. Make the most of every opportunity.

So, I sit here with my arm in a sling. I can’t type. I can’t do laundry. I can’t cook a meal. I can’t drive a car, unless it’s a certifiable emergency. My bride tells me restaurant drive-throughs are not emergencies. In other words, based on the previous two sentences, I could starve to death today. But not likely.

How can you make the most of this day? What will be your major contribution? How will you improve the world based on what has taken place before now? And how will you set things in motion that makes everything better for everyone in the days to come?

I want to join God in building a better world. I want to see my prayers come true when I ask for his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. I want our world to experience a little more heaven on earth.

Today, I will obey the doctor’s orders. I will use my healing arm as little as possible. I will not extend necessities any further than truly necessary. I will read. I will learn. I will ponder. And I will pray. How will you make the most of this day?

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I will rest and heal, work and pray; I will seek God’s best for tomorrow and today.

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Our Father, how do I make the most of today? How can I build on what has been handed to me from the past? How can I run my best leg of this relay today? Give me ears to hear whatever you have to say. Give me a willing and obedient heart to do what is necessary today. Enter into this slowed-down season and maximize its benefits for today and forever. Amen.