Daily Devotionals

The tyranny of the urgent will always out-shout the essential nature of the important...if we let it. 

We have to determine not to let that happen. The secret is establishing personal priorities. I have suggested four:

In the depths of every person's soul, in the secret chambers where no one else knows the thoughts, we are usually able to find a worry or two or three. Even in the hearts of those who are laughing and smiling.

We worry about death—our own or that of a loved one. We worry about disobedience and sin, about feelings of guilt. We worry about daily problems—people problems, decision problems, problems related to work, home, relationships, finances, school...

You name it, we worry about it....

Proverbs 4:11

Proverbs 21:21

We've been programmed to think that fatigue is next to godliness. That the more exhausted we are (and look!), the more committed we are to spiritual things and the more we earn God's smile of approval.... As a result, we have become a generation of people who worship our work...who work at our play...and who play at our worship.

Hold it! Who wrote that rule? Why have we bought that philosophy? Whatever possessed someone to make such a statement? How did we ever get caught in that maddening undertow?

Proverbs 21:21

Proverbs 23:15

Let me make three practical suggestions to you who are parents:

First, determine your priorities. Ask yourself how high the family rates on your list of involvement. How are your children in particular—just how serious are you regarding time with each? Have you told them or your mate? . . .

Luke 12:15

Let's take a brief look at greed.

Practically speaking, greed is an inordinate desire for more, an excessive, unsatisfied hunger to possess. Like an untamed beast, greed grasps, claws, reaches, clutches, and clings—stubbornly refusing to surrender. The word enough is not in this beast's vocabulary.

Isaiah 29:14 

Seren-dip-ity–the dip of the serene into the common responsibilities of life.

Serendipity occurs when something beautiful breaks into the monotonous and the mundane. A serendipitous life is marked by "surprisability" and spontaneity. When we lose our capacity for either, we settle into life's ruts. We expect little, and we're seldom disappointed.

Esther 9:28

The Lincoln Memorial. The Vietnam Memorial . . . .

Memorials are places provided for us to stand and be quiet, to reflect, and to pass on to the next generation the roots of a nation's heritage. They give the present significance because they give the past perspective.

Matthew 6:34

Here's a question worth your time: What are we to do when worry comes knocking on the door of our mind?