There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)
Multiply your expectations of yourself, of others, and of what can be done with your time.
Most of feel like that we barely have time to breathe, much less take care of everything that we have to do from day to day. “There is no way that I could add anything to my schedule.” A good look at our lives and schedules and the way that we spend our time is a good thing to do from time to time. How can I get it all done? How can I do a better job? Multiply your expectations.
“I work best under pressure,” said a fellow college student. “No,” said the instructor, “you only work at the last minute.” This is often true that while we may work a lot, we only work hard at the last minute. Nothing makes you get something done like a deadline. What if we worked as hard as we do at the last for the entire time of the project? We would see much better results.
Multiply your expectations.
Matthew 13:31-33 (NIV) He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
Multiply your expectations of others.
Pitkin tutoring program – a bunch of fourth graders. While I was in Pitkin, we started a one-on-one mentoring program with the elementary school children. We had six tutors that year working with six children. The school knew that they had some fourth graders that they feared may not pass the LEAP test that year and so they gave us those children to work with. By the time the tests were over, all of the children passed the test that year.
What accounted for the success? Caring adults looked into the eyes of those children and multiplied their expectations of them.
Matthew 13:8 (NIV) Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Good soil can produce good results and God did not make any junk. You can do it. If you say to yourself that you cannot do something, then you won’t be able to do it. If you raise your expectations of yourself, you would be surprised what you can do. It takes the courage to try and the willingness to work hard and smart and you can achieve success.
Philippians 4:13 (NIV) I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Proverbs 10:4 (NIV) Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.
Fixing our washing machine
A couple of months ago, Jennifer said that our washing machine was broken. I don’t know anything about washing machines, but I thought, “If it is already broke, I can’t break it more.” I took a look at it, figured out the problem and got it fixed for just a few dollars. I gave myself the benefit of the doubt and dove in to fixing it. You might be surprised what you can do if you try.
Do not be satisfied with the status quo.
If you are not satisfied with the way things are, do something about it. Paul had come a long way in his work for and relationship with the Lord, but he knew that it could be better and he was willing to do what it took to get there.
Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV) Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have yet taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Be willing to put forth the effort that it is going to take to get the job done and to do it well.
2 Corinthians 9:6 (NIV) Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Brian Thurman 