How important is planning?

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first hour sharpening the axe.” 

Abraham Lincoln

1- Talk to God. (Prayer). We are spinning our wheels if we don't know what is His plan and receive His blessing. Heather and I tithe. Which means that we give 10% of our income to the Lord. We have a great quote about tithing, that is not ours, but we adopted it as our own. "We believe that by giving God 10% of our income the 90% that is left will go further and last longer by His blessing than If we were to keep the entire 100% of our income." This is also a great example of trying to cut down a tree without sharpening the axe first. Prayer is that important. 

2- You must have a clear priority scale to really utilize planning. What are the most important things for your relationship with God, your family, your work and yourself. Then plan ahead for each one.

3- Tony Morgan has equipped me with four valuable questions: What is right, What is wrong,What is  missing and What is confusing? These simple questions have brought the most clarity in the last 9 months for me.

4- What dull tools have I grown accustomed to using? Has loving people become dull and even numb? If so, then has patience also? Work demands creativity and invention, so does my family. When you get tired and dull do we stop and sharpen the axe or do we allow work to rob the best of us from our family? Does work suffer because you are no longer carrying the passion you once had? What can you do to get passion back? 

5- Rest... Its amazing what a little can do. (For those that don't know how) Do nothing, Nap - my favorite, Don't do what you normally do, Ask a loved one what they would like to do, PRAY, garden - unless your a gardner...