What Can I Do?

Can I share with you five simple principles that apply to all areas of your life? Ready, here we go….

1. There is a cumulative value in investing small amounts of time in certain activities over a long period of time. Think about that for a minute. If you exercise a few minutes a day, over a long period of time you get and stay in shape. You can’t do it all in one weekend. If you watch your diet over a long period of time, you will attain that glamorous shape, but crash diets do not work. If you invest a little bit of money for many years, you wind up rich. If you invest a small amount of time with your spouse every day or your kids, you wind up with a healthy home.

This principle is so important and it affects every area of your life. There is tremendous value in investing small amounts of time and energy over a long period of time. The impact will be amazing.

2. Neglect has a cumulative value as well. If you ignore your health for 15 years, or ignore exercise, or ignore diet for a long period of time, your body pays the price. If you ignore your spouse and you work late and skip meals and pay little attention, you can’t make it all up with one romantic weekend away.

3. There is rarely an immediate consequence for ignoring anything in a single installment of time. Think about it. If you miss one day on your diet, no big deal. If you miss two days working out, you can recover. If you miss one deposit, your savings will survive. There are no immediate consequences for missing single installments of time. But cumulative buy-in or neglect can be incredible.

4. In the critical areas of your life, you cannot make up for lost time. (This is so important if you are in high school, college, or new to your career.) You can cram for a test and be alright, but you can’t cram on your health. You can’t cram on relationship with key people or your spouse. If you miss those years with your kids, you can’t get them back. If you fail to save and invest early on, you can’t get those years back. Farmers can’t plant a month before harvest. You have to start all over again.

5. There is no cumulative value to the urgent things that we allow to interfere with the most important things. If you were to add up all the things you did in place of working out, you would have a pile of nothing. Add up all the hours you worked late, drove here or there, ran meaningless errands, instead of spending time at home with your family at dinner, you have nothing to show for it. But if you added up the 100’s of hours of exercise or dieting or financial planning, you have a lot to show for it.

Why do so many volunteers around Cornerstone give so much of their time and energy to this church? It is because they know the cumulative value of investing small amounts of time and energy and skill. They know that God has chosen the local church to spread his kingdom. Congregations can leave God’s footprint on a culture, on a community, and even on the world. God gave that kind of authority to local churches.

Last week, we dedicated the whole weekend to inviting you to join one of our strategic service teams. If you were absent, don't miss out. All other investments that you make in terms of money, health, fitness, or anything else, ends when you die. What you do for the kingdom of God lives on into eternity. How do you want to invest your time and energy in the coming year? Make the right choice. Join on of our teams. We need you.

Brad