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

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by -- and Thursday afternoon
the foreman approached the young man and said, "You can pick up your
paycheck on the way out today."

Startled, the young man replied, "I thought you paid on Friday."

"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!"

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!"

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take
time to "sharpen the ax." 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?

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.

Author Unknown