Unplugged Part 2 (from Douglas Poole)

Dear Cypress Family and Friends,

One of the scripture verses that sort of always stays on my radar screen is 1 Timothy 4:16: “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do , you will save both yourself and your hearers.” Who can argue with this wisdom of God’s Word? Not me. Can’t we all name either someone we know personally or someone we know of with a very public life who didn’t pay the kind of attention they should have to their marriage or their morals or their finances or their health or their (you fill in the blank) __________ and then they (and usually others around them) paid some major “stupid tax”.

That said, this week as I was doing some leadership reading and this quote jumped off a page at me: “An insidious enemy of a leader is exhaustion. Keep it at bay.” How true...how true in my life. I rarely make my best decisions  or do my best thinking when I’m exhausted. I rarely am the kind of husband, father, pastor or Christ-follower I want to be when I’m exhausted. In fact, if I let myself stay an exhausted me for any length of time at all, I usually end up paying some “stupid tax” over something I said or did that probably wouldn’t have been said or done if I wasn’t feeling so exhausted. A-r-r-g-g-h-h! And then I find myself offering apologies and making amends. My guess is, I’m not the only one exhaustion effects in just such a manner. I think this quote is applicable in just about any and every role and realm of life, isn’t it? Can’t we also say: “An insidious enemy of a spouse/parent/friend/boss/teacher/or (you fill in the blank)___________ is exhaustion”. Keep it at bay. Question...Who is ultimately responsible to see that you are leading your life in such a way that you keep exhaustion at bay...you right? Right! So as I told you in my previous e-note, last week I unplugged from most of the duties and responsibilities of the urgent to study, plan and listen for the whispers of heaven in some silence and solitude. What do you need to do to keep exhaustion at bay? You can find reasons to not do something or you can find reasons and ways to keep it at bay. Do what you need to do before exhaustion makes you into more of the person you don’t want to be and you live another day of the life you don’t really want to live. “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, for if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

One small step you can take to fight exhaustion is to set your clock back one hour this Saturday night as we return to standard time. What a gift, an extra hour of sleep.

Blessings,

Douglas

PS. To all my Saturday night friends...see you 6PM...10-10 baby...10-10.