Exodus 18:13 – 18 13 The
next day, Moses took his seat to hear the people’s disputes against each other.
They waited before him from morning till evening.
14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that Moses was
doing for the people, he asked, “What are you really accomplishing here? Why
are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from
morning till evening?”
15 Moses replied, “Because the people come to me to get
a ruling from God. 16 When a dispute arises, they come to me, and I
am the one who settles the case between the quarreling parties. I inform the
people of God’s decrees and give them his instructions.”
17 “This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. 18 “You’re
going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden
for you to handle all by yourself.
Most likely this year, you've already poured a lot of energy
and effort into changing unhealthy habits. Because we're all creatures of
habit, we find ourselves having to face the hard truth that many of those
habits we have formed were not good for us. We have not only been eating the
wrong things, we've been eating too much of everything! Furthermore, due
to busy schedules and a host of responsibilities, we've not maintained the
discipline of consistent physical exercise. To make matters worse, most of us
have a work environment that is more sedentary than active, which also works
against us. Changing all that requires a lot of effort!
Now that we're engaged in replacing unhealthy habits with
wholesome ones, it would be easy to discount the importance of rest and
relaxation. It's what I often call "the problem of the pendulum." We
tend to swing toward one extreme (staying constantly active) in order to
counteract the other extreme (being a couch potato). We think: "Now that
I'm into this great diet or exercise program, it's time for me to get with
it—day and night, week after week!" Or, to use an old expression often
said by type-A, neurotically driven personalities, "I'd rather burn
out than rust out!"
How stupid is that? Either way you're "out"! Go
figure. That makes no sense at all!
Because one of our major goals in becoming healthy is balance,
the need for giving our bodies and minds a break is just as essential as
maintaining the disciplines of eating right and exercising regularly. Keeping
that balance means that those of us who occupy leadership roles need to guard
against trying to do everything ourselves. The secret in one word is delegation.
If you're a workaholic, chances are good that you have
trouble sharing your workload. And because, truth be told, you can do the job
better than most others, you'd rather work longer and harder than run the risk
of it not being done as well as you can do it.
Believe it or not, there's a story in the Bible that
addresses that very real problem head-on. It's found in Exodus 18. Here's
a suggestion. Stop right now, open your Bible, and read that chapter . . . I'll
wait.
. . .
Isn't that a terrific story?! It's a classic example of
proper delegation—the secret to staying balanced.
Thought for today:
Do I know how to delegate? Can I set healthy limits for myself?
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