Make your bed!

You may have heard that phrase a few times in your life.

“Make your bed.”

Parents have been known to say it again and again. It may be one of the chapters in the How to Parent handbook. A major luxury of staying in a hotel (which I do quite often) is not having to make the bed. Yet I find myself pulling the covers up and at least making it look neat each morning.

Right about now you are probably saying, “Nice, Ron. But what does that have to do with anything in my life and ministry?” Good question.

My friend Don McMinn recently wrote a blog on this topic. In it he quoted retired U. S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven, who was also commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command. Admiral McRaven is now Chancellor of the University of Texas System. He spoke at UT Austin a few years ago and related that in his SEAL training, the first inspection of the day was their bed. It had to be made, and it had to be perfect. Admiral McRaven explained why.

[blockquote author=”” link=”” target=”_blank”]If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.[/blockquote]

That goes right along with what I often told our staff in Christian radio. Our normal work day for the office staff was 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. My advice to the them was to accomplish one job before 8:30 a.m. Get one task accomplished in the first thirty minutes of work.

The reasons for that were simple. It put the staff in a work mode right from the start of the morning. Because all on the team were also good friends, there was a tendency at times to visit with each other as they arrived at the station. These friendly visits could easily stretch into a half-hour or more. By tackling a job right at the beginning of the day, each person was in a mode to accomplish things throughout the day. Like making your bed, getting that first task done gives a sense of pride, and encourages a person to head to the next job on the list.

Of course, there are biblical principles and truths that also encourage us to do the work.

[blockquote author=”II Timothy 2:15 NLT” link=”” target=”_blank”]Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.[/blockquote]

So, did you make your bed this morning? These small “wins” each morning can lead to greater momentum and larger accomplishments, all for God’s kingdom.