Aim for the Spot

           I love the story of Bill Knox. Bill was a successful bowler back in the 1930s. He once bowled a perfect game—blind. Let me explain.

            In an exhibition, Bill instructed that a screen be placed just above the foul line to prevent him from seeing the pins and the bowling lane.

            He then bowled aiming for a specific mark on the lane’s floor within his eyesight. Bill’s purpose was to illustrate the benefits of spot bowling—a technique that calls for bowlers to aim for a mark in-line with the specific spot the bowler wishes to hit the pins.

            Incredibly, Bill bowled a perfect game.           

            To the Thessalonians, Paul wrote a letter encouraging them to live like Jesus. The key, he taught in I Thess. 5, was to visualize where they wanted to be in the end, and back up and focus on how Jesus wanted them to live each specific day—spot living, you might call it.  

            That is good advice. Let us live today with our eyes on Jesus.

Source: Our Daily Bread, August 4, 1992

The Builder

This parable was sent to me over ten years ago. No one knows who wrote it, but I hope you enjoy it.

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you." 

What a shock! What a shame!

If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built.  If we had realized, we would have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely.  It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity.

The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project".  Who could say it more clearly?  Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past.  Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.

--Author unknown

                                                                                       

Psalm 118:24 (NIV)
24 The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.