day 380: The Most Precious Resource

Today I had a meeting with a senior financial person who is in the process of deciding on his next job. He detailed to me the trials and tribulations of what he has gone through over the last few months with people he interviewed with who never got back to him and one situation where he was asked to write a comprehensive business plan and submit it in two days, which he did, only to be told that the position was already filled before his interview. When he checked back with them later he was told that the time spent by the hiring manager was for courtesy. When he inquired about why they asked him to take his own time to create and submit the business when it was for nothing, the responding party did not have a good answer. Needless to say, he was upset. He could have been upset over not getting the job or upset over someone taking his business plan and likely getting ready to use it as their own. But neither of those were really why he was upset. He was most upset because someone else wasted his time. We all have the same amount of time each day. The CEO and the entry-level college student all are given the same amount. When one person wastes the time of someone else, it is really taking from them the most precious resource they have. We all have our time wasted at work. What is really important is how we respond and react to when our time is taken from us. Being ones who want to set the right example and be a model of our purpose being lived out at work, I suggest that each time we are put in the situation where our time is being wasted, that we recalibrate and remember that we are working for God's purpose and that if we are doing that in all we do, then no moment is ever wasted. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 15:58; "...Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." Today, worry less about time that is wasted and think more about why you are doing what you do. If we are always working enthusiastically for God to deliver his Purpose through us with the glory always going to Him, then all the time is useful and each and every moment is counting for something great.

Reference: 1 Corinthians 15:58 (New Living Testament)