To listen to the radio version, click here.
To search archives, click here.
Apples of Gold
Radio Script for September 2, 2009
“A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
The shoes were all over the floor.
You couldn’t even go into the closet because of all the shoes.
They weren’t sitting upright. They weren’t even paired together. It was literally just a pile of shoes.
That’s what our closet looked like right after we moved. And you know, when you move into a new home, getting the shoes straight is not the first order of priority. So it stayed that way for a couple of days.
I got up in the morning and had to kick shoes out of the way to reach my clothes. Then I had to root around in the pile to find a pair that matched.
That is a great example of disorder, and you can see the problems it caused.
First of all, you can trip on the pile. Second, looking through the pile is a waste of time. And third, it’s hard on the shoes.
As you can imagine, we didn’t put up with that for long. I bought a little rack that fit perfectly in the closet, and now the shoes are lined up neatly in pairs, row by row.
In the morning I take a pair off the rack and put them on. And in the evening I take off the shoes and put them right back on the rack.
It reminds me of one of my all time favorite sayings, one I tried to drill into my children. Here it is:
“A place for everything and everything in its place.”
So start with “a place for everything.” At first we didn’t have a place for shoes. The shoes had no place. Then I bought the rack. Now the shoes have a place. That’s the first step toward order, that everything has a place where it belongs.
Look around your house, or your office, or your vehicle. Is there disorder?
“Yes, but who cares, Doug?”
Well disorder causes problems. It wastes time, it’s hard on the stuff, and sometimes it’s downright hazardous.
So take the first step towards order. Pick up something and ask, “Does this have a place?” If the answer is no, then create a place for it, a place where it belongs, where it can always be found, where it’s out of the way and protected.
“But Doug, I’m just not an orderly person.”
I understand that. Some people are more gifted in this area than others. First Corinthians 12:28 talks about people with “gifts of administration.” Some people can just “see” how to administer things, to organize them and put them in order.
But we can all be more orderly. It makes us better stewards of what God has given us, both our stuff and our time.
Now back to that old saying, “A place for everything and everything in its place.”
You start by taking control of the situation and creating a place for everything. Then comes the hard part for some people, and that is getting into the habit of keeping everything in its place.
Yes, I have a shoe rack, but what happens if everyday I come home and just kick off my shoes into the closet? Soon I’m right back to that disorderly pile.
So the trick is simply putting things back into their place.
This works for bigger things, too, such as cars. There are six cars in our household, and no, we don’t have a six-car garage. That means six cars parking here, there and everywhere; people parking people in, people having to move cars so others can get out. It could be a real nightmare.
So I took control of the situation. I mapped out a parking spot for everyone, so that no matter who’s coming or going, or when, everyone can come and go as they please without bothering anyone else. That’s “a place for everything;” even every car.
But what happens if people don’t park in their spot? “Oh, I was just running in the house and running right back out. That’s why I parked you in, Dad.”
“Uh, that was five hours ago.”
“A place for every car, and every car in its place!”
Paul told the church in Colossians 2:5, “I…delight to see how orderly you are…”
In First Corinthians 14:40 the King James says, “Let all things be done decently and in order.”
Proverbs 28:2 says, “…a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order.”
This applies at home and at work. It applies to our money and our time. It applies in business and government and education.
To be good stewards of what God has given us, we must take control of disorderly situations and put them in order.
And the old saying sums it up so nicely.
“A place for everything and everything in its place.”
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here: http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one: douglas_apple@msn.com
(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-
No comments:
Post a Comment