1. The very best thing you have to offer a church is your own transforming self. (Credit to Ruth Haley Barton for this language.) That is, you are a person who is in the process of being shaped and transformed into the image of Christ.
2. Manage yourself. You can spend much of your life doing little more than emotionally reacting to your past. As a result, much of life can be spent projecting or blaming others for your lot in life. Or, you spend your life repeating old, negative patterns of behavior from the past.
3. You have learned something but it is important to keep on learning. There is no reason to think you have nothing to offer. You have learned something. At the same time, there is no reason to be smug and arrogant. After all, there is much that we can still learn. We have learned and we are learning.
4. Smile. You may be brilliant. You may be accomplished. You may be successful. Yet, you will not have the influence with some that you otherwise might have if you would simply smile and be more approachable.
5. Never underestimate what others can teach you. You can learn something from all kinds of people. Beware of underestimating what another can teach you.
6. Choose to have a great attitude. You may be unhappy at work. You may be unhappy with your job. You may be unhappy with where you live. However, when your unhappiness begins to impact your attitude, you are on a self-defeating journey. By the grace of God, you and I can choose to have a good attitude. When you have a good attitude, you may even bring energy into the room. In fact, others will often want to be around you.
7. Take personal temptation seriously. Beware of doing something stupid which may bring about negative consequences for decades to come. Humble people take personal temptation seriously.
8. Pay attention to others. Far too many of us are completely self-absorbed. We talk on and on about ourselves and pay little if any attention to others. Pay attention to the person checking you out at the grocery store or Starbucks. Pay attention to the person right in front of you. Paying attention to another is one way to get out of yourself and get into the life and concern of another.
9. Read. Read. Read. Perhaps you don’t like to read. Then read for just ten minutes a day. If you are reading for ten minutes a day, this will add up very quickly. Over time you might be amazed at how much you have read just from this daily discipline.
10. Rest. Take a day off. Sleep. Go to the gym. Take a walk. Do something joyful. Taking care of one’s self honors the creator.