The document tells a story about a young man who gets a job cutting down trees but is fired after a few days for becoming less productive. When he complains, his boss asks if he has been taking time to sharpen his axe. The young man realizes he has been too busy working to maintain his tools. The moral of the story is that people in today's busy world often forget to take time for self-care and spiritual renewal, which are important for maintaining effectiveness and happiness just as sharpening tools is important for an axe. The document encourages taking time daily to sharpen one's axe through prayer, scripture reading, and listening to God.

1. Copyright © 2009 Brian & Martha. All Rights Reserved ♫ Turn on your speakers! CLICK TO ADVANCE SLIDES Have you sharpened YOUR AXE? — Author Unknown

2. 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 skilfully felled a great tree. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, "You can start Monday."

3. Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, "You can pick up your pay check on the way out today." Startled, the young man replied, "I thought you paid on Friday." Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by.

4. "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!"

5. 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!"

6. 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?

7. 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.

8. Take time today to sharpen your axe! Dear Lord, keep us from having our lives so full of good things that we don't have time for the best. You always have time for the things you put first..