Bullet List | Wayfarer

Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11 (NLT)

I laughed to myself when I heard a preacher admit from his pulpit, “I know that I’m just standing up here saying the same thing over and over.” (I observed that his confession did not lead to a quick conclusion of the message.)

I love messages simply crafted, clearly delivered, which get effectively to the point. As I have read through the letters of Paul, Peter, John, and James countless times I am always struck when they conclude with a quick, and to the point, summation. In today’s chapter, Paul concluded his letter to the believers of Jesus in the city of Corinth with this summation:

Be joyful.
Grow to maturity.
Encourage each other.
Live in harmony and peace.

It’s like a quick check list. Without consciously thinking about it I read this one short list and find myself asking, “How am I doing?” as I read through each bullet. Questions abound. Am I joyful? Why or why not? Am I growing more mature? How do I know? What signs can I point to in my life? Am I encouraging others? Who? How? Am I living in harmony with others? What’s discordant? What is in harmony? Where am I sharp? Where am I flat?

I then find myself seeking one thing I can do today to experience joy, to grow, to encourage or to live in peace and harmony. One thing to keep pressing on towards my goal.

Quick, clear, concise, and to the point.

Got it. Let’s roll.

2 Corinthians 13 (vesselsofclay.org)
good grief (paparon.wordpress.com)
Of Evil and Good (tomvanderwell.wordpress.com)
Simple, Honest, Straightforward (tomvanderwell.wordpress.com)
The Power of Checklists – Get it Right, Repeat, Get it Right Again (teamworksblog.com)

The answer's simple:
   Live right,
   speak the truth,
   despise exploitation,
   refuse bribes,
   reject violence,
   avoid evil amusements.
This is how you raise your standard of living! A safe and stable way to live. A nourishing, satisfying way to live. Isaiah 33:15-16 (MSG)

Today at work I'm preparing for a couple of upcoming training sessions. In my job one of my many tasks is to take very broad and deep data from research and assessments and translate them into a simple message. I've got to distill a veritable encyclopedia of charts and graphs into a short bullet list that people can grasp and which they can easily translate into behavioral changes in their conversations with customers.

Perhaps that's why these two verses stood out into today's chapter. Life begins to feel so complicated at times. After a couple of weeks in which I've mostly been away from home, I'm definitely feeling the pressure this morning in my office. I'm scattered. There's so much to do and I don't know where to begin. It's always good to sit back and try to distill the broad range of issues, relationships, questions, needs, desires, dreams, and to-do lists into a simple handful of priorities that I can hold onto. That gives me the simple direction I need to step out into the day with purpose.

Keep it simple.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and perfectfutures