Taking Time

Taking time…to do what?  How many jobs do you undertake each day?  Do you stop and take a breath, to look around and enjoy the day?  So often, we are too busy doing it, instead of taking some time to breathe.

Let’s look at what you may be undertaking each day:

• Preparation of meals

• General cleaning of home (vacuuming, mopping floor, making beds, wiping down                    benches, etc.)

• Laundry

• Gardening and lawn maintenance

• Payment of bills and oversight of finances

• Booking appointments (medical, financial, education, etc.)

• Decluttering and organization of space.

Now take time to stop, grab a coffee (or tea), go outside, and breathe.  Why not take 5-10 minutes to be in the sun, and just enjoy those moments.  Taking time to just be ‘you’.  

Life becomes busy, so how do you stay on top of everything without becoming overwhelmed?

• Write down the jobs you need to achieve each day, that week, over the month
• Declutter and organize your home space so that you can ‘breathe.’
• Look at the jobs you are undertaking and take on one or two each day that you really don’t want to do and then tackle some of the jobs that you know are not too much to get done.

Take time to just enjoy life.  If we are so busy doing things, and not taking time to enjoy life, then perhaps we need to re-evaluate what we value?

When life seems to be spinning on a slow wheel

Somewhere between the end of the financial year and Christmas, are a few months that seem endless. In my region, the annual agricultural shows and public holidays are over. Apart from a few local festivals and spring events, at this time each year, life can feel like ‘spinning a slow wheel.’

Everyone becomes a little tired as the year presses on, or they are coming out of winter and into spring. You would think living in the tropics, the migration of winter to spring would not affect us, but it appears so. Come early November, everyone gains a spark again, and we have end-of-year celebrations and often holidays in our planning.

Living life during the challenging times when everything is an endless roll of getting ‘stuff’ done, can seem monotonous.

Now is a wonderful time to recall that:

• God loves You! John 3:17-17

• If you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you are a child of God. 1 John 3:1

• Forgiven. Acts 13:38-39

• You are precious to God.  Isaiah 43:4

• God knows you by your name. Isaiah 43:1

• You are chosen.  1 Peter 2:9

• A masterpiece – God doesn’t make second-best. Ephesians 2:10

During the tedious times when life is spinning on a slow wheel, why not choose to:

• Try something new – a hobby, change of routine, sport.

• Begin a study on a book in the Bible.  You may like to look at Jude, Obadiah, Philemon, 2 John, and 3 John.

• Be intentional about catching up with friends or people with whom you are acquainted and get to know them better.

Each day we can make the decision to show gratitude and express gratefulness, even in the ‘slow wheel’ times.

The Value of Praying Together

This is a 'what do you value' question.  Do you value opportunities to pray with fellow Christians?

We talk about prayer, and we say how important prayer is, or should be, in our lives.  But, and yes there is a BUT, how often do we engage in prayer with others? 

Chatting with a friend a couple of weeks ago, a comment was said, 'We should pray'.  How I valued my friend's wise discernment that, yes, after our wonderful time catching up, we were able to pray together as fellow Christians.

Prayer is not easy for many people. Most of us keep prayer as requests to the Lord, superficial, and often we have a list of petitions.  But real, honest prayer means being honest, vulnerable, and genuine. 

The value of praying together (some Scripture.  I encourage you to search for more scripture passages):

• Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
• How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! Psalm 133:1
•  They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. Acts 1:14
• They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42
• So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Acts 12:5 (read whole passage)
• I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Romans 15:30.

The value of praying together brings us closer to one another, we can encourage when life is good and when life crashes over us, like storm waves.  We can fellowship together.

“Fellowship is a relationship of inner unity among believers that expresses itself in outer co-participation with Christ and one another in accomplishing God’s will on earth.” Read more about The importance of Fellowship here.

We can study God's word together, and bring before the Lord, those who are undergoing difficult circumstances because of their faith or have health or other issues. We can intercede for our community and the society in which we live.

But most importantly, we can pray together to acknowledge and praise the Lord for his never-ending kindness and love towards us.  We can bring him honor, we can confess those areas in our lives which we struggle with, confess our sins, and seek forgiveness from God.

We build up each other (it's called edification) and strengthen our connection together as a family in the Lord.

Yes, we may be feeling vulnerable, but we can also learn from one another and lean on each other.

The value of prayer should never be underestimated.  The love that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, has for us, should never be diminished.  We need to value one another and value the privilege of the opportunity to pray together.

How are you tracking in 2023?

At the beginning of a new year, many people make resolutions.  The reasons to make a resolution/s vary from changing careers to losing weight or becoming healthier.

Interestingly, reading the article from finder.com.au   I noted that having or increasing their families isn't a resolution.  Buying a home is not in the top five activities. However, eating more healthily and saving more money are at the top of the list.

So how are you tracking in 2023?

Our resolutions often are made to improve our physical or financial needs.  But what about our spiritual needs? 

'It takes wisdom to build a house and understanding to set it on a firm foundation; It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies. It’s better to be wise than strong; intelligence outranks muscle any day. Strategic planning is the key to warfare; to win, you need a lot of good counsel.' Proverbs 24:3-5 (The Message)

Proverbs 21:2 says, 'A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart.'

we need:

• The Lord in our lives.  That is a personal relationship with our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Find out more here.
• Wisdom - we find this by reading and obeying Scripture.
• Allowing the Lord to direct us by the Holy Spirit.
• Living out our faith each day (not just the day you go to meet with fellow believers).

So often, we make resolutions to change something about ourselves or our situations. However, change starts within our hearts and minds, and flows out in our actions.

Do you want to change a habit? There needs to be an action, not just a thought.  To make a change, real change in our lives means being consistent and practicing. Becoming consistent and practicing can be uncomfortable, even challenging. 

Determine to make small, specific steps that build from nothing to something.  For example, you may want to read the whole Bible in one year, yet reading the long lists of names and laws becomes tedious.  You may choose to download an App and action a reading plan that has audio as well as a short devotional which takes 5-10 mins whilst you are having morning coffee to begin your day.

You may like to increase your savings so create a savings tracker, and an account where each week a small amount of money is deposited.  Being able to start an i-saver account in your online banking is so easy in today's world.  This is just one example for you to kick-start ideas.

As you reflect on where you began in January 2023 to now, make some notes and observations on your journey.  How will you adjust what you are doing to reach the resolution?

How are you tracking in your life, in your goals, and in your faith in 2023?

Involved, Invested and Excited

Recent articles that I've read advise against multi-tasking.  If you are multi-tasking, you are likely to become less efficient in your job/role. 

I smiled, reading these articles and social media posts.  One question I had was, 'Do any of these writers have experience as receptionists or front office staff'? 

Working for many years in both front of the office and in the back of the office, I am aware of the different demands on how you manage your time and tasks.

Introducing streamlined processes is not to be less efficient.  Streamlined processes are to ensure that the work requiring detail and research is given sufficient time and diligence. However, if you are tasked to prepare detailed reports, and ensure that the reception area, phone calls, and emails are dealt with simultaneously, then it may become difficult to accomplish all tasks in a timely manner without either a less-than-acceptable report, or staff becoming frustrated and flustered, which unfortunately, shows up with complaints from clients, who do not see the workload imposed upon the staff member trying to juggle many tasks concurrently.

Regardless of whether your staff is paid or volunteers, it is in your interest as an employer, office manager, or volunteer coordinator to ensure that those in the reception areas have support.  Have you ever entered a business or organization and spoken to the receptionist, only to feel that (a) they don't care, (b) they don't value the business/organization, (c) they treat you with the barest civility.

Why does this occur? On occasion a person may be employed who does not care about their job, it is simply a form of income for them.  However, my experience has shown me that most people do want the best for the business they work for, and they do care.  What has happened that your reception staff begin to show otherwise?  

• lack of communication within the workplace,
• managers not rotating staff so that they can accomplish all tasks,
• piling too many tasks on one or two people,
• expecting tasks completed in periods not allowing for continual interruptions due to being at front desk,
• expecting staff to work without breaks or work overtime without compensation,
• expecting staff to take work home to complete tasks in their own time,
• not providing staff with appropriate breaks,
• not working with staff to have streamlined processes,
• not listening to staff who raise concerns or encounter abuse from clients and co-workers,
• your staff/volunteers become burnt out, anxious and exhausted.

Streamlined processes may include:

• emails being assigned to different managers/staff, relevant to each role,
• work being assigned to appropriate managers/staff instead of just one or two staff,
• rotation of staff - i.e. allowing reception staff to have a break from the front desk to the back desk to work on reports, etc that require full concentration, without interruptions,
• any abbreviations used in the workplace are communicated to all staff so that everyone knows what is being communicated.

Supporting your staff and volunteers in practical, caring actions will help them to be involved, invested, and excited about their roles and assisting clients.

How can you streamline processes and assist your staff/volunteers to be invested in the organization you are all part of?