It All Really Does Matter

As most of you know my day-to-day job is being an Office Manager for a medical practice. Among the million things I have to do there is watching the little things. I must keep an eye on payroll, keep an eye on supply usage, and various things like that. That attention to detail can make a big difference to our practice

You see, everything really does matter. Every minute of overtime a person is paid goes against the bottom line. Keeping a close eye on our supplies allows us to keep a good hold on overhead. Making sure the doctor’s schedules are full can help to best utilize the staff.

In our lives the little things matter as well. It’s easy to get stuck on the big things going on in our lives while letting the little things slip. The problem with that is that all the little things add up to a big thing down the way.

An example of that would be my helping to coach my son’s baseball team. At every practice we work on learning how to hit the ball, how to catch it, etc. Yet, if we don’t take the time to also teach them where to go after they hit the ball, what to do when others players hit the ball when they are already on base, or where to throw the ball when they catch it, then we’re not really doing our job as coaches. Instead we would have focused on the big things, but given no instruction on the little things that could be the deciding factor in our winning or losing a game. Also we are trying to help the kids to enjoy the game throughout their lives not just hot to hit a ball or catch it.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to take a look at how much some things that we can easily take for granted really do matter. The key to all of this is realizing that they matter and making them a priority. I hope you take the time to come back here over the next few weeks and read some of what God has been talking to me about. My hope is that you’ll use some of the tidbits in your lives as well.

Next Week: Marriage Matters

Listen To The Message

As an office manager of a medical office I can tell you that I make a lot of phone calls. Sometimes I get ahold of my contact, but oftentimes I don’t. When I don’t reach that person I often get the opportunity to leave them a message.

Over the past 2-3 years I’ve seen some big changes in the people who are getting my messages. It's becoming the norm to call back the number seen on the caller ID without ever listening to the message. They do that because they think they know who is calling and why they called.

Now, I have a problem with people doing this. First off, we have 16 people who work in my office who could have called that person. If they don’t listen to the message then they don’t know who called them or why they were calling. When they call back, it becomes very difficult to route them to the correct person who called. Secondly, if we take the time to leave a message, why not take the time to listen to it before you respond?

I’ve found that this policy of not listening to messages isn’t only happening with phone messages, but with God’s messages as well. People often think that they know what He’s going to tell them and act upon that notion before they really get the message that He has for them. They don’t take the time to REALLY hear from God.

So today I’d like to impress upon you the need to listen to the messages that you are given. Listen to what God is saying to you and then act. Don’t assume that you know what He’s going to tell you. Don’t assume that you should act upon those ideas. Your spiritual life will be stronger if you take the time and hear the message.