Words to the Wise

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need. 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

I have a saying that I attribute simply to observing the obvious. Some are prone to counsel you in front of an arduous project, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” I add the qualifier, “but it was built!” When you observe someone quietly press and plod towards a goal, focused and not frantic or fussy, it’s an inspiration.

Paul was by trade a tent maker. This process in his time certainly did not utilize mechanical means to sew the tents, but was one stitch at a time.

While there may be some social aspects to an enterprise, for any progress to be made, one must keep one’s nose to the grindstone . No row ever gets plowed without hands on the tool with significant applied effort, in the hot sun.

Success is never achieved without effort. This is the right way to conduct your life, and it’s the way that you put food on the table. This work ethic is not reserved for a particular denomination or people group, but to the wise.

Everybody Cares About Something

I enjoyed reading these “corporate values.”

My favorites were Coca Cola and Southwest Airlines. Of course, I like biblical values, and I could square mine with these.

I don’t know about “being present, connecting with transparency, dignity and respect.” You might want to discuss this one with someone over a cup of coffee, but not too loudly.

Nevertheless inspired, I decided to see what the wisest guy in the world thought was important, and here are his values from Ecclesiastes 7:

Verse 1—Keep your good name

Verses 2,4—Stay sober

Verse 3—Learn from loss

Verse 5—Listen to rebukes

Verse 6—Laugh last

Verse 7—Pay your way

Verse 8—Finish

Verse 8—Patience

Verse 9—Stay cool

Verse 10—Look forward

Verses 11,12—Know

Verses 13,14—Accept fate