About two and a half weeks ago, we had a winter storm that was larger than the ones we usually get here. We had somewhere between 16 and 18 inches of snow with drifts up to 3 feet. Normally, my monster 2 stage, 33 hp, snow blower can handle these sorts of things but even that was a bit too much (or so I thought).

After struggling for about an hour with a sluggish snow blower, I finally began to wonder if this was God’s way of teaching me patience. I had to go really slow through the foot and a half of white stuff. It really got bad with the large drifts thanks to the blizzard force winds. Needless to say, I learned that I needed to be patience and not get upset. Finally, I gave up and ended up shoveling… even with the help of 4 other people, it still took 6 hours of straight shoveling and snow blowing to get the whole driveway done.

I thought that was what God wanted me to learn from that situation. It turns out that He was setting me up for the next snowstorm that happen yesterday. This time… knowing the storm was coming – I took some simple maintenance steps to get the snowblower running better. So yesterday when we got 6 inches of snow in 4 hours, I was ready to take on the driveway again.

The snow blower worked like a champ and cut right through the snow like there was nothing there. Granted there was about 10 inches less but it performed so much better that we could have easily taken on another foot and a half with no issues…

The moral of the story for me. When you take time to keep up on the maintenance, things just work better. As I continued to dwell on this point, my thoughts drifted towards relationships. Just like the snow blower, relationships work better when you work at them. This is something I know, but God needed to remind me again. I have been lacking across the board on this one.

From immediate and extended family, to friends both near and far, I have been horribly bad about the “maintenance” side of my relationships. I really need to work at that.

What are some tips or tricks that you use to keep in touch with those in your world?

For me, this applies in my role as a leader at work and at home as a father. I have heard so many times that leaders need to humbly serve as they lead toward a goal or vision. But have we really done that in every area of our lives? Yes we may do that in our Church or Organization but do we apply that same principle in our home as a parent or spouse…

That thought really challenges me and I hope it does for you as well. How well do you do in applying leadership principles in every area of your life? Is it easy or do you struggle there like I do? Thoughts?

As I watched my kids and their cousin running through the woods to get to the end so they could go on the boats, it hit me. The whole point of the hike was not to get to the end but to enjoy it.

Enjoy the:

Nature around us
The family gathered with us
The peace that comes from a quiet setting

So many times we race through life and don’t take time to enjoy the journey along the way. I fall into this trap time and time again. Going from one summer trip to the next then it’s on to school in the fall and all the stuff starting up again. Rarely do I take time to just enjoy…

Being with the kids
Time with my wife
Wonderful times with family together

Make sure you slow down today and take in where God has you and the wonderful people around you. You don’t want to miss out because you were looking ahead and not around!