Posts Tagged: reading books

“Prepared? Or Just Lookin’?”

On September 22, 2020 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Are you prepared? Or are you just lookin’? What I mean by these questions will become clearer if you consider the following proverb that I listened to this morning.

Prov. 20:4: “A lazy-bones never plows during the fall, but he looks for a harvest—and there isn’t one.” (My paraphrase from the Hebrew)

“How foolish!” you say? “Why would anyone expect a harvest when he hasn’t planted anything or even plowed the field?”

Yes! But are we really so different from this man? Maybe you are, but I am not.

  • I weigh myself, but don’t lose weight. That might be connected with the fact that I eat the wrong things and that I eat too much even of the right things. I’m looking, but I’m not preparing.
  • I expect to sleep better, but eat and drink late at night, and spend too much time on the computer and my smart phone late in the evening. I’m looking, but I’m not preparing.
  • I want to say that I’ve read a lot of good books, but I never actually read them. I’m looking, but I’m not preparing.

The list goes on. I will not.

Years ago, a good friend of mine and I were playing golf. He is a good golfer. I, on the other hand, find lots of balls in the woods and the weeds. (My idea of achieving a below par score is finding more balls in the woods and weeds than I’ve lost. And if you have to ask my what I’m doing in the weeds or the woods in the first place, you either don’t know anything about golf, or you have not had your coffee yet.)

I had just made an incredibly poor shot, but one with a lucky result. My friend (who is not big on offering advice), asked, “Are you more interested in product or process?” That cooled my jets! However, I actually wanted to get better at golf in those days, so I answered that process might be helpful. He gave me good counsel that improved my chipping game immensely.

“Product or process?” Committing myself to process is the name of the game. That’s true in golf and in life.

, , , ,
Follow on Feedly