Have you sharpened your axe?

A young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a
> job.
>
>
> "That depends," replied the foreman. "Let's see you fell this tree."
>
> The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great tree.
>
> Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, "You can start Monday."
>
>
>
> Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by. Thursday afternoon the
> foreman approached
> the young man and said, "You can pick up your paycheck on the way out
> today."
>
>
> Startled, the young man replied, "I thought you paid on Friday."
>
>
>
> "Normally we do," said the foreman. "But we're letting you go today
> because you've fallen
> behind. Our daily felling charts show that you've dropped from first
> place on Monday to
> last place today."
>
>
>
> "But I'm a hard worker," the young man objected. "I arrive first,
> leave last and even have
> worked through my coffee breaks!"
>
>
>
> The foreman, sensing the young man's integrity, thought for a minute
> and then asked, "Have
> you been sharpening your axe?"
>
>
>
> The young man replied, "No sir, I've been working too hard to take
> time for that!"
>
>
> Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take
> time to
> "sharpen the axe."
>
>
>
> In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever but less
> happy than ever.
> Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp?
>
>
>
> There's nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But God doesn't
> want us to get so busy
> that we neglect the truly important things in life, like taking time
> to pray, to read and
> study scripture or to listen to "the still small voice of God."
>
>
>
> We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow.
> If we don't take time
> to sharpen the axe, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.