Thomas Carlyle said, “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.”

Vision is essential to leadership, as is seeing the big picture—no doubt about it. But great leaders also have the ability to see and do what is necessary today.

It’s the principle of first things first. Solomon said it as simply as it can be said: Develop your business first before building your house. (Proverbs 24:27)

This is what great leaders do. Where many flounder week to week, effective leaders make sure that, before anything else, top business gets done each day. And they do this every day.

What’s your business? I mean your real business? What matters most to you? Is there anything on your agenda today that reflects this priority? Long term vision is great, but we also need to make a habit of taking care of today’s business today.

See if you can complete these two sentences.

1. My real business is __________.

2. I will develop it today by doing this: _______________.

If your real business is following Jesus, then do something today that makes you more like him. Give. Love. Serve. Forgive. Show mercy. Develop your business (your real business) first, before doing anything else.

In football, if you’re good, chances are better than 90% that you’ll finish the season with a loss.

Each year 12 teams make the playoffs, but only one wins the championship.

Champions spend the offseason reveling in glory and reliving the victory. The other 11 teams often spend the offseason rehashing the mistakes and reliving the disappointment.

It’s actually different for the not-so-good teams. They have time to come to grips with their mediocrity. Midway through the season, most of them knew this wouldn’t be their year.

But the teams that make it to the post season keep their hopes alive until that final loss. And it’s often a last-minute, heart-breaking loss.

THE COST OF  BEING GOOD

That’s the price you pay for being good. Great teams and/or great players can’t win every championship. But they often get close, and those are the losses that really hurt. Those who reach for greatness suffer losses that the run-of-the-mill can’t fathom.

It’s the same with you.

If you seek to be among the best, you will also suffer setbacks bigger than the rest.

Which do you think hurts more: losing the contract you worked so hard to win … not getting the promotion you worked so hard to earn …  failing to reach the out-of-reach goal you set for yourself … or … watching your favorite contestant get voted off the island? Which hurts more? Which one do you aspire to be?

You’ve heard all your life that only those who dare to dream big can achieve big. That’s true. The flip side is that those who dare to dream big also get hurt big. You face bigger setbacks and feel bigger disappointments. It’s all part of the quest to accomplish something worthwhile with your life.

WHEN THE SEASON ENDS TOO SOON.

If you feel like your season has ended a little earlier than it should have, remember the words of Micah…

Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. (Micah 7:8)

In the verses that follow, Micah talks about bearing the brunt of our mistakes, receiving forgiveness, and experiencing restoration. And he says once again about the God we serve: “He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness.”

Maybe once or twice you’ve had a season end too soon. We all have. The good news is that there’s always a season to come. God is bringing it your way.

Brennan Manning tells this story.

One day GK Chesterton was approached by a London reporter on the street, who said, “Sir, I understand that you have recently become a Christian. May I ask you a question?”

“Certainly,” Chesterton replied.

“If the risen Christ suddenly appeared and stood behind you at this very moment, what would you do?”

Chesterton took a moment to look the reporter in the eye, then said, “He is.”

Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. (Luke 23:31)

There’s an ancient proverb that says “The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth.”

We’ve all witnessed signs and wonders at various times: miraculous healings, divine provision, supernatural interventions — things that can only be attributed to God. These are miracles, it’s true. But the greatest miracle is that God can take your broken life and put it back together.

The greatest miracle is that in spite of trouble or hardship or persecution or danger … “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)

The greatest miracle is that he gives us the power to live … the power to walk on the earth, in victory, day after day.

2011 is the 400 year anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible. Even though the version we read is the Oxford standard text edition from 1769, the year 1611  marks the date of its introduction. It is without a doubt the most important Bible translation in history, and even in its fifth century of existence, still profoundly eloquent.

Here’s an idea. Reintroduce yourself to the King James Version this year. It may take some getting used to, since the Elizabethan age prose can be unwieldly at times. But it’s also eloquent beyond description. There are certain texts that the King James Version expresses better than any other. Exploring the KJV can help renew your passion for God’s word.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

December 1863, during the height of the Civil War, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow received news that his son had been wounded in the Battle of New Hope Church. Longfellow had struggled much of his life with depression, and having had lost his wife only two years before, the news of his son’s wounds was difficult for him to bear.

On the morning of Christmas, as Longfellow sat down at his desk, the bells of a nearby church began to chime. Longfellow listened, and as he thought about their significance, he wrote these words…

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep,
God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.

This poem was put to music and has been sung by just about everybody. It was Johnny Cash’s favorite song. Here’s a video of him singing it on a Billy Graham special.

“If you never ask, the answer is always no.”

The person who made this statement recently was talking to marketers about closing the sale. It got my attention because it also applies to our prayer life.

James said, “You do not have because you do not ask God.” (James 4:2)

More and more I see asklessness as the root of our problems. James also said that we don’t receive sometimes because we ask with the wrong motives … but I’m convinced that the first part of the equation is a bigger problem for a good many of us.

The best way to solve this problem is with a pen, a paper, and some time spent in solitude.

Write down the things in your life that you have been dealing with on your own, that you have (inexplicably) neglected to pray about, and make a decision to bring these matters before the throne once a day until they’re resolved.

You and I both know from history that it works. Why then we go through seasons of asklessness is a mystery for the ages.

When the angel announced to Mary that she would give birth to the Son of God, he didn’t conclude with the words, “Therefore, we’ll put you in a mansion with a team of servants at your beck and call.” One could argue that she deserved it, but that’s not the life God calls us to. He calls us to a life with a price tag. A life of sacrifice.

Mary was the greatest of all women, but instead of luxury, she was given simplicity. She lived with her carpenter husband in a poor Galilean community. It was not unlike living in Appalachia or the hills of east Tennessee. At eight months pregnant, she was requited to take a long journey to a distant city. It was there she gave birth to her child — not in a comfortable home, surrounded by a loving family, but alone, with only her husband, in a stable, surrounded by farm animals.

This is how it is for those whom God chooses. Sometimes we have a hard way to go; there’s no getting around it. The road to the fulfillment of the promises of God does not run downhill. It’s an uphill climb, and sometimes it’s less than easy.

But I can guarantee you one thing: It’s always worth it.

My favorite verse in the Christmas story is found in Luke 2:19. After Jesus was born, and the angels announced his birth, and the shepherd boys came to witness this miracle, the Bible says…

Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. (Luke 2:19)

Do you know what I imagine were the thoughts of her heart?

“It’s worth it. Every demanding day. Every whispered rumor. Every daring step of this difficult journey. It’s all worth it, because look at what God has given me.”

In the mother of our savior we find an example to follow. It challenges us to keep believing God, even when the road gets rough.

Here’s another great Connie Mack quote:

“No matter what I talk about, I always get back to baseball.”

He said this in an interview with  Sporting News magazine in March 1951. He was 88 at the time, retired from the game, but he still couldn’t stop talking about baseball.

We’ve all known people whose conversations always seem to end up in the same place. Some inevitably get back to a dirty joke, or a bit of gossip, or a political rant. Others come to an uplifting thought, a prayer request, a word of praise.

It has a lot to do with what’s on your mind all the time, and also what’s in your heart. That’s why Jesus said, “What you say flows from what is in your heart.” (Luke 6:45)

What does your conversation always get back to?

Connie Mack will always be remembered as one of the greatest personalities in baseball. After coaching the Philadelphia A’s for 50 years, he retired in 1950 at the age of 87 as the winningest manager in history.

Much has been written about the management techniques of Connie Mack. Even today, leaders have a lot to learn from his example.

One management technique: he refused to worry. Early in his career, when he realized how worry was threatening to destroy his ability to lead — especially worries over past defeats — he forced himself to get so busy preparing to win today’s game that he didn’t have time to worry about yesterday’s losses.

He summed up it by saying, “You can’t grind grain with water that has already gone down the creek.” This colloquialism is probably lost on most of us, but it is Mack’s way of saying what Paul said …

But I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (Philippians 3:13-14)

It works. Preparing today helps you keep your mind off yesterday’s regrets and away from tomorrow’s uncertainties. So give your attention to what is really pressing today … and press on.