Wisdom & Priorities

Posted by David on October 29, 2009
God

…a lighthouse keeper on a rocky stretch of coastline who received a new supply of oil each month to keep the light burning.

Being close to the shore he had lots of guests. A woman from the village needed some oil to keep her family warm; a farmer requested some for his tractor; a mechanic wanted some to lubricate a wheel.

All the requests seemed legitimate so the lighthouse keeper tried to please everybody.

Before the month was over his oil was gone and the beacon went out. As a result several ships were wrecked and lives were lost.

When the authorities investigated, the man was very repentant. But to his excuses and pleading their reply was, ‘You were given oil for one purpose – to keep the light burning.’

Be wise – prioritise!

Posted via web from Preposterousness

Tags: quotes, wisdom

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16837 CommentsWisdom+%26+Priorities2009-10-28+22%3A44%3A55David to Wisdom & Priorities

Nathan
October 29, 2009

Thanks for sharing this! I was just talking with a friend/mentor last week who told me I needed to "learn the meaning of the word 'no'."

I guess I've been sharing the oil a little too much and the lighthouse is seriously about to go dim soon if i don't stop soon ;o)

Good metaphor. Thanks again!

Ed Dyer
October 29, 2009

Keeping focused on the right priorities is absolutely essential David.

It only took me 60 years to learn this.

I could take your lighthouse story to heart, as my brain has been compared to a bim lightbulb on more than one occassion.

alece
October 29, 2009

oooh that's good.

i've been burning my oil out on far too many things for far too long…

David
October 30, 2009

I read this and knew God was speaking that to me. And knew others would get it too

David
October 30, 2009

Oh yes, mine too Ed. Especially at 3am, when the midnight oil has run out too!

David
October 30, 2009

Hope the healing process helps the focus too Alece. Talking about my story is bringing a greater depth of healing, even though I thought I'd done all that needed to be done. I'm learning about degrees of being healed, and prioritising is definitely part of moving through the degrees. For me, anyway.

love
November 4, 2009

is it just me or if the lighthouse keeper was a man of God and believed he was doing God's work by offering a help to those less fortunate than himself so as to spread the gospel of ask and ye shall receive/give to him that ask of thee that God would have ensured the oil that was left miraculously kept the light going so as to ensure the innocent lives on board the ships were not lost before their 'time'?

God does not have a 'limited' supply of miracles and has done similar things in the past for the Jews so why would he be so stingy in this case??

Typical judgmental Authorities – the letter of the law takes precedence over the Spirit.

The oil may have been given him for just the one purpose but it clearly has more than one USE. it might not be used the way the authorities paid for it to be used but if it leads the woman and her family, the farmer and the mechanic to find a God they had never before known then perhaps the lighthouse keeper will be the one who makes it into heaven while the 'authorities' go to hell?

Maybe that was not the point you were making though huh?:-) i've been seeing a few things a bit differently lately.