{"id":2904,"date":"2014-02-25T13:42:26","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T13:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=2904"},"modified":"2014-02-25T13:42:26","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T13:42:26","slug":"what-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=2904","title":{"rendered":"What and Why?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each week, the church staff that I work with gathers to chat about the weekend and talk about items that need to be announced. We close with a little devotion that draws us closer to God and helps us focus on the week ahead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last week, we did a simple exercise to help us work through the ups and downs of our jobs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our executive pastor drew a triangle on a white board and then he asked the question, \u201cWhat are some of the tasks you do?\u201d As we rattled off some of the things we did, he placed a dot in the triangle.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"IMAG1450\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then he asked, \u201cWhat are some of the tasks associated with your job that you don\u2019t care to do?\u201d The triangle was filled with yet more dots.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His next question was important. \u201cWhy do you do what you do?\u201d The answers were glorious. \u201cGod\u2019s calling.\u201d \u201cLove for people.\u201d \u201cTo see others grow and transform.\u201d \u201cTo encourage one another and build each other up.\u201d \u201cTo lead others in a growing relationship with Jesus.\u201d These were just a few of the answers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"IMAG1455\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He then drew some wavy lines across the top of the triangle and mentioned that this represented an iceberg. The \u201cwhat\u201d we do in our ministry is just the tip. There is so much more below the surface. The \u201cwhy\u201d we do what we do.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"IMAG1457\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In our day-to-day lives, we find this to be true as well. We do things we don\u2019t like to do because there is an underlying reason or purpose. For instance, we clean out our refrigerators because there could be some health issues (and science projects) due to a lack of cleanliness. Or we change the oil in our vehicles because it helps our engines run smoothly and keeps it from blowing up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If we never look at the \u201cwhy,\u201d the \u201cwhat\u201d will never be tolerable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maybe you should try this exercise for yourself. It may help you to understand your purpose. It may help you to focus on what is really important. It may lead you to dismissing some tasks that are of no value.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To conclude this exercise, our executive pastor asked us to choose a couple of our \u201cwhys\u201d and focus on them. He asked that we keep them close by so that when we face those dreaded \u201cwhat\u2019s\u201d we\u2019ll be able to move ahead. Perhaps you\u2019ll need to do the same with your \u201cwhys.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can endure any \u2018what\u2019 if you focus on the \u2018why.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you need some help with the \u201cwhys,\u201d take a look at some of these passages. What encouragement we find in these words from God!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Romans 8:35-39<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 2:9<\/p>\n

Ephesians 2:10<\/p>\n

1 Peter 1:8-9<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have a great day today and focus on why you do what you do. It will help you get through the tedious tasks that lie ahead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Donna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each week, the church staff that I work with gathers to chat about the weekend and talk about items that need to be announced. We close with a little devotion that draws us closer to God and helps us focus on the week ahead.   Last week, we did a simple exercise to help us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_s2mail":"yes","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,22,15,11,29,21],"tags":[1018,1935,1134,1934,1933,1932],"class_list":["post-2904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asking-god","category-believing-god","category-knowing-god","category-loving-god","category-magnifying-god","category-trusting-god","tag-1-corinthians-29","tag-1-peter-18-9","tag-ephesians-210","tag-romans-835-39","tag-staff-connect","tag-what-and-why"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2908,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904\/revisions\/2908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}