When to say When!

Saturday morning I headed out for caffeine and a few treats, before starting a busy day working on my music.  As I pulled up to the local bakery, a few nagging thoughts jumped to mind. First, I had received stale baked goods from this place in the past, and second, I really didn’t want to spend the extra money considering the pastries were $2.25 each.  Visions of sugarplums dancing in my head, however, made my sweet tooth win out.

My strategy, as I entered the shop, was to be very specific with the cashier about which items I wanted, thereby insuring freshness.  From behind the counter, she boxed up the pastries and announced the total.  Reaching for my wallet, I thought, “Wow, including my cappuccino, this is the  same cost as my CD.  And THIS will be consumed in about 15 minutes, totally gone!”  Then I thought, “At least, this time, I’m getting fresh pastries.”

Or so I thought.  When I got to my car and opened the box, there lay two old crusty, dried-up pastries and no sign of “fresh”!  I couldn’t believe it. I was ready to rush back into the store when I suddenly had a thought to stop and pray.  Anger wouldn’t accomplish anything and I truly wanted to be a good witness for Christ in this situation.

I felt the Lord tell me to wait until the customers left, then return and offer to buy another pastry.  A surprised cashier looked up when I entered the shop.  I explained that I wanted to buy a Fresh pastry this time.  That unfortunately, the previous ones, were not.

Immediately she began to insist that all the baked goods in the store were fresh, reaching for one to prove her point.  I turned and left the store, returning with the offending box of rocks.  We then compared. Huge, fresh and creamy vs. small, burnt and stale. I told her this had happened to me several times before and she admitted that they were indeed, told to sell all the old pastries first.  She apologized profusely as she tucked the pastry into my box, stating it was free of charge.

I thanked her and headed home.  I thanked the Lord that He always handles things in such caring ways, and for the giftings that He places in us.  His gifts are eternal treasures.

I rediscovered the value of a dollar in these tough, economic times, but more than that I remembered how quickly the temporal evaporates,  but the eternal blesses on and on.

Isaiah 55:1,2 “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. You who have no money, come buy and eat….Why do you spend money for what does not satisfy…delight yourself in My Abundance.”

There are some really great nuggets in this piece from Terri.  What she didn’t mention in the article is that she initially insisted on paying for the fresh (additional) pastry.  It was only after the clerk refused to take her money that she received it as complimentary.  Sometimes we can certainly get things free by being pushy, but isn’t it better when we honor God and then we see how He has blessed us?

Terri is a Pianist and a Worshiper and has recently released an Instrumental Piano Worship Album.  The CD is available for download from her website and even includes one free song.

"Organization is a process"

Study great men (or women) and you will learn to grow like them. Lately I have started reading biographies of individuals who have accomplished a great purpose of some kind in their lifetimes. Despite their differences of time period, situations, personalities and temperaments, and chosen professions I find a great many things in common with these men. Found within nearly all of these various examples of success are discipline and organization.

Building wealth is not just about money, but rather it’s about maturing as an individual. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” In order to achieve good success it is important that we grow in many ways as individuals and I’d like to specifically discuss the process of getting organized here.

Organization is a process. That means it isn’t just something we do one time and now we’re organized. It’s like a good diet — we can’t just try to hurry up and lose those 15 lbs., we need to learn to eat healthier. Well, just like that diet, we need to make a lifestyle change to improve our organization.  One of the simplest things you can do to get started is to use a daily planner.

Personally, I’ve been using a planner for years and it is amazing how much more organized I am with one.  There are several good planner companies and each has numerous designs — for me, I’ve found the Leadership series from FranklinCovey works best. The pages are laid out in a way that’s convenient for me and I’m very impressed with the additional leadership tabs that the pack comes with.

In fact, the Goal Setting, Values, and Mission Statement sheets in the back are so good that I often recommend them to family and members of my financial group. Before I go on telling you how good these sheets are, I should let you know that I do get commission on FranklinCovey products. However, I joined their affiliate program specifically because of how much I love their product, so I have been recommending this product long before I could ever make commission on it (isn’t the internet wonderful though, really?). That being said, the extra section in the Leadership pages really is a great way to start changing your lifestyle to be more goal-oriented.

These pages walk you through part of Stephen R. Covey’s 7 Habits , which is an excellent book focused on identifying some of the most prominent habits consistently found in successful people.  The great thing about the planner pages is that they’re a shorter version of some of the topics covered in the book, and they do a good job of walking you through the process.  It even comes with a couple of pages of instruction.

Remember, this is a process that you’ll turn into a habit.  My habit is that I take a look at my values, mission and goals each time I’m on a commercial flight.  For me flying is relaxing and quiet, so it’s a great time to do some introspection and to reassess my goals.  You find your own time, but if you have these leadership pages in your planner, then they’ll probably be with you when you’re ready to do some self-assessment.

Maybe we’ll talk more about the process in the future.  Be sure to post comments if you have questions and I’ll either answer them here or write another article to address them.  One way or another, start to form a process and make organization a habit.