Make Something Out Of Each Day

By: D.A. Slinkard

I love the book of Proverbs in my King James Bible — so much wisdom and truth packed in this book that I believe a person should read a chapter of Proverbs every day. There are 31 chapters, and the simple plan would be to read the chapter number for the day of the month it is. Reading God’s Word is a great thing all of us could do. In fact, reading God’s Word is exactly where this article you hold in your hand came from. Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”

This is one of those statements that holds so much validity in our everyday lives. Think back to 2019, people could not wait for the year of 2020 because it was going to be the year of vision. And then when it got here, we realized we did not like what we were seeing. Shortly after 2020 was here, we were quickly anticipating the end to draw near and to start fresh for 2021. How many people were saying, “I cannot wait for this year to be over?”

It seems we are a society that lacks vision. We have become a society that likes to reflect on what was, and we are a society that likes to look ahead, but we fail to have the vision of NOW. Some people would call this living in the moment; but it seems to me too many people are caught up in their past or prematurely looking toward their future that they miss what is happening right this very instant. We get so worried about what has happened or worried about what might happen that we completely forget about what IS happening. Where there is no vision, the people perish. We need to know what we want and with our vision, we need to focus in on what we are going to accomplish.

I remember as a kid we had some mules growing up on our farm, and I remember my dad using the team of mules to plow up the ground we had. He would put blinders on these mules because he did not want them to get spooked when he would be working with them. The purpose of the blinders was to keep the mules from seeing to the rear of them and to help eliminate distractions. How different would our lives be if there was some way we could put blinders in our own lives?

How many times do we look back on things and we take our focus on moving ahead? How many times do we see something out of the corner of our eyes, and we are now looking sideways instead of focusing straight ahead on what we want to achieve? It happens all the time, and we are inundated with all kinds of distractions. A big distraction for many people is their cell phone — whether it be talking, texting, face-timing, or browsing the Internet. If I am not mistaken, there was a new study that came out suggesting most kids born today have a cell phone in the womb. Craziest thing, it seems they come out of the womb knowing how to text and send messages.

Where there is no vision, the people perish. What distractions are you allowing into your life? How many distractions are you allowing daily that prevents you from achieving everything you need to get done to be a success? Have you even thought about it? I am constantly trying to improve my productivity in my personal life; and so I am always trying new things. What I found is if I do not mix things up, I eventually become stagnant. I love written to-do lists, but I must alternate how I attack these lists, otherwise, I just start transferring things that need to get done from one day to the next.

Are you one of the people that could not wait for 2020 to be over but have done nothing different thus far in 2021? Many people are guilty, but it does not have to be like that. Think about what you want to achieve NOW, get the vision of HOW, and then focus in on doing it. Put your blinders on, limit your distractions, and make something out of 2021 each day. Do something that moves you toward your vision each day because each day will eventually become your year. What will your vision be and what will you do today to start?
By: D. A. Slinkard
D.A. Slinkard would love your feedback. You can contact him at da.slinkard@gmail.com