day 652: Instruction Manuals and Handbooks

“All scripture is given by the inspiration of God.”

I was recently in a Best Buy where I overhead a customer telling a salesperson that he had just bought a TV and he couldn’t find the owner’s manual in the box and wanted to see if he could get a copy from the store. The salesperson told him that the TV manufacturer no longer prints manuals and that he could go online and pull down what he needed. The customers was caught a little off-guard and then reluctantly said, “okay” and moved on. The following week I was working with an Executive from a good sized private company and he showed me their employee handbook and was asking my advice on how best to update and disseminate policy changes. I found myself giving the same type of answer as the Best Buy salesperson in that it was time for this company to get everything online and then just push out the changes that occur instead of taking on the cost and headaches of printing something that is out of date the day it comes off the printer. We each need to get more and more comfortable with what it means to obtain knowledge from a screen. As you read this, that is exactly what you are doing. And to this, if we know that our customers, clients, employees, etc. are moving quickly to everything being online then we need to get better and better at the communication that we can create for online consumption. Some say that blogs are dying or already dead. The same is being said about websites. So, it is up to us to figure that out and stay ahead of the curve so we don’t fall behind. Better to know than not know in today’s day and age.

Regardless of whether it is online or written on parchment paper, God has given us the ultimate Instruction Manual and Handbook for work and life. 66 different books, written by forty different men all inspired by the same and one God, written over a span of 1600 years and holding up today as well as it did at the time of its’ writing. Like the person who decides to jump into a project before reading the directions or the instruction manual, we can end up going into our work and our lives without direction if we don’t spend time in God’s Word. There is no guarantee that any of us will put together our lives in the best way, but with God’s instruction manual don’t you think that it can be much better than guessing and trying to go it alone? Have you taken the time today to check in and see what instructions there might be for you today?

Reference: 2 Timothy 3:16 (New Living Testament)

day 412: Work Hard?

Should we work hard? Seems like a silly question doesn't it? Of course we should work hard and our work ethic should drive us to do so. But, not everyone is the same when it comes to this topic. According to the Pew Institutes Research, the last four generations (The Greatest Generation, Silent Generation, Baby Boomers and Generation X) all counted work ethic as a significant part of what defines them. But the newest generation, The Millenials, don't have this in their definition. It's not that they mind work, it is just that when put in the context of the rest of their lives it's not as important and maybe therefore, they just don't see hard work as important as the rest of us. Guess what, we are all going to have to adapt to understand this better over the next decade. What makes any of us want to work hard is that we have something meaningful to work towards. We all can remember one of those situations where we have worked all night on a project and ate the pizza more than once and while we really didn't want to be there, there was no place that we would rather be. Why? Because we felt that work was important and we were making a difference and what we were doing was important at the time. This makes the hard work worth it. I also think that there times when we are called upon to work hard and for us to set the right example we need to dig deep and know that we need to live up to the expectations of others. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul, Silas and Timothy write to the church in Thessalonica and they make it clear that sometimes work will be hard but the expectation is that we pull our weight. They say to the people there in Chapter 3:10; "Even while we were there with you, we gave your this rule: 'Whoever does not work should not eat." That means, they were expected to work, work hard and if not, then the most basic of rewards would be withheld. Maybe we are taking for granted that someone needs us to work hard this week. Maybe with just a little extra effort and oomph we can not only live up to expectations but also exceed those needs. When we do this, I believe we open up the door for more to come our way, but also earn the respect of others, which can lead to our examples being ones that others want to learn about and follow. A little hard work can go a long way.

Reference: 2 Thessalonians 3:10 (New Living Testament)