7 Habits

I'm so glad I got the opportunity to go through the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People course with my co-workers.  It really got me thinking.  One of the exercises we did made us list our different "roles" and what we wanted people to say about us in those roles.  When I made my list intially, I wrote "Christian, wife, mom, daughter, sister...." Then, when I started to reflect on my roles to write my personal mission statement, I noticed I had made a HUGE mistake!   I thought I had done good to list "Christian" as my first and most important role, but I had missed the crucial obvious. Christian is not my role.  It is who I am and it carries over into every role.   I decided I wanted to explore this whole thing a little further and not just become a highly effective person, but a highly effective Christian. So, I'm going to take scripture and see how it applies to each of the 7 Habits.  

Habit 1: Be Proactive
This habit mainly deals with acknowledging that you have personal choice. People choose their actions.  You can choose your response to things and consider what is the right thing to do, no one makes you do something.  Simply put, it's acknowleding our free will.   God made us with the ability to choose.  The Bible is full of examples of choices people made-- some within God's will and some outside God's will.  Ultimately, we have the freedom to choose whether or not we even believe in God.  To me, this is the starting point.  The verse that came to mind to me is Joshua 24:15 "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."   In every situation and personal decision, I need to remember whom I've chosen to believe in and serve.  If I do that, it will provide the framework for effectiveness. (Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.")

Habit 2:  Begin with the End in Mind
This habit is about setting goals, dreaming, and having a vision for your life.  Proverbs 29:18 says (KJV) "Where there is no vision, the people perish..."  We are created in the image of God- and look how creative He is.  God designed us to create, to dream.  I've noticed as I've gotten older, I seem to do that less and less.  I'm amazed at the "ideas" and dreams that come from my children.  God asks us to come to him like little children (and I think he means we can even come to him with our dreams).  Things don't have to be bad in our life to dream for something different or even better.  "For nothing is impossible with God." Luke 1:37.  This habit is not a selfish or self-centered habit.  It in more introspective and future minded and should flow seamlessly into habit 3.

Habit 3:  Put First Things First
So, once you've decided to serve the Lord and you dream of what you can do with your life, your unique skill set, etc, you now move into prioritizing.   You must decide what things are most important.  I loved this principle, because it's where I often get off track and overwhelmed.  I learned that "urgent matters are not always important."  I learned that things that are important and urgent should get our attention first, and things that are NOT urgent, but important should receive our attention secondly--before things that are urgent and unimportant! (WOW)  In a high-tech, fast moving world many things are made to seem urgent, which gives them a false sense of importance.  I realized the key is deciding (based on habit 1 & 2) what is important before something "urgent" arises.  Then, you have something to filter the urgent matter through to determine it's level of importance.  Matthew 6:26-33 is one of my favorite passages (I call it my tatoo scripture because if I ever were to get a tatoo, it'd be of a daisy with this reference below it).  Verse 33 says "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."  So, when I'm trying to decide what should receive priority in my life, God made it easy.  He already tells me what to do first:  Seek His Kingdom...the rest will be given to us.  In my mind, God will not just meet our physical needs, but also our emotional and social needs.  He can give us wisdom and discernment on what should come 2nd, 3rd, 4th... in our lives.

Okay--I'm going to "pause the habits" here and take a rest. This is a good stopping point because Habit 1-3 are considered "the private victory."  They are things that you must be able to do before you can move on to "the public victory" (victory with others/relationships).  It is also in this first part, the personal victory, that you write your personal mission statement. (We wrote it under Habit 2)

Here's mine (a work in progress)"  V.I.V.E. (Value what God values. Intentionally love,inspire, and serve. Voluntarily give with compassion and humility.  Every opportunity counts.)