Leadership

GET BUSY

Someone gave me this advice once: "If you need to get something done quickly, ask a person who is really busy to do it." I've come to understand why this advice works. Busy people are busy for a reason--they get stuff done! Busy people are the most reliable at producing results, but they can have a life out of balance because of their busyness. Unfortunately, many student leaders fi t into the category of people who are overachievers and out of balance in their lives.

You need to learn as a young leader that when you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else. For example, you have lots of activities filling your schedule, and a friend asks you to try out for the school play. If you say yes to the play, you'll have to say no to other things. You have only so much time. The number of minutes in a day doesn't change to accommodate all your desires. You'll need to learn how to say no to things, or you'll overschedule yourself and have no margin in your life. When you overschedule, you'll find yourself saying no to your family, no to sleep, or no to time with God. Time with God helps you establish clear priorities about how to spend your time.

God created you intentionally with limitations. You're not designed to do everything. He made you to be dependent on others. When you decide to learn how to make the most of your time, you'll learn to say no without feeling guilty.

Just a note: Your life may not be out of balance because you're too busy. You may be out of balance because you're too self-absorbed. If you spend most of your time focusing on your own needs, you may need to take a positive step toward finding ways to get involved with helping others at home, church, and school.

Some students who are the least happy in life are the ones who are couch potatoes. They tend to be bored with life and are filled with relational tension, especially with their parents. If this describes you, you need to do something to improve your outlook on life. If you're bored, make it a goal to fi nd something to do besides lie on the couch and watch TV or play video games. Finding constructive ways to occupy your time will help you improve your feelings about life and help you learn to be a good steward of the time God gives you.

Whether you're overstressed or underchallenged, I hope you'll take a serious look at your life and discover what you can do to bring it into balance and make the most of the time you have. You'll be amazed at what God will do with a little extra time in your schedule. Your family will notice, too, and they'll thank you for it.

Taken from "Help! I'm a Student Leader" by Doug Fields, copyright 2005, Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here: http://www.youthspecialties.com/product/259614

FORGETTABLE FACT

Slinkys were among the first toys to to travel into space.

POTENT QUOTABLES

"A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit."
- John C. Maxwell

"Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all the others were making ships."
- Charles Simic

PARTING SHOT

Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

copyright 2006 :: Youth Specialties

$20 Bill

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

We have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value.

It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.

We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes, not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE. You are special- Don't EVER forget it."

If you do not pass this on, you may never know the lives it touches, the hurting hearts it speaks to, or the hope that it can bring.

Count your blessings, not your problems.

"And remember: amateurs built the ark
professionals built the Titanic.

If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.

Refining and purifying silver

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it"

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

This very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them. And, whatever they're going through, they'll be a better person in the end.

There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write.

T-Shirt Design idea

What do you think? Is it keeping up with the times? Would YOU buy one?

Lady Liberty Fireworks

This link may be a day late, but it's still fun- launch your own fireworks online at:

Lady Liberty Fireworks - http://www.fireworkspop.com/liberty.htm