Discernment

 Bible Reading: Ecclesiastes 8

Key Verse: Verse 5 - “Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.”

  Key Words: a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment

Let me ask you, do you have discernment?  Do you have discernment to tell if someone is working or wandering around aimlessly?

I read a story recently by Frank Lloyd Wright and how his uncle had “brain smarts” but no “common sense smarts” in regard to the work of others.  The story went as follows.

“Architect Frank Lloyd Wright once told of an incident that may have seemed insignificant at the time, but had a profound influence on the rest of his life.  The winter he was nine, he went walking across a snow-covered field with his reserved, no-nonsense uncle.  As the two of them reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped him.  He pointed out his own tracks in the snow, straight and true as an arrow’s flight, and then young Frank’s tracks meandering all over the field.  

“‘Notice how your tracks wander aimlessly from the fence to the cattle to the woods and back again,’ his uncle said.  ‘And see how my tracks aim directly to my goal.  There is an important lesson in that.’

“Years later the world-famous architect liked to tell how this experience had greatly contributed to his philosophy in life.  ‘I determined right then,’ he’d say with a twinkle in his eye, ‘not to miss most things in life, as my uncle had.’”

 

                                                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ If you are an employer or supervisor, ask God to give you discernment about the work ethic of those under you.