Staying sharp

19 days to go before we skydive!

Did you hear about the 2 lumberjacks who challenged each other to see which one could cut down more trees in a day?

At daybreak the first one began furiously chopping down trees. He worked up a sweat and by noon he had cut down 16 trees. Meanwhile the other lumberjack had only cut down 4, because he took the first 2 hours to sharpen his axe. As he sharpened it his challenger laughed at him thinking he was doomed to lose the bet because of all that wasted time.

That's when things got interesting. By early afternoon the first lumberjack was slowing down. It took him almost an hour to cut down one tree, while his friend was picking up speed. How could this be?

Certainly he was as strong as his friend. Unfortunately, strength had little to do with it.

It was all about whose axe was sharper. The sharper the axe - the quicker the trees came down.

By late afternoon the second lumberjack who'd sharpened his axe, had passed his friend by several trees and won easily.

There's an important lesson there for all of us.

Our ceaseless activity may feed our ego and satisfy our need to be needed, but eventually it will:

- leave us dull spiritually, emotionally and mentally
- the people who need and applaud you now, will discover it and go looking for someone sharper, leaving you feeling "used" and unappreciated
- because you've lost your edge you'll be unprepared for what God has for you next!

Let's all stay sharp this week!

"If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving sucess." Ecclesiastes 10:10