A wise sage once shared with me the secret to being a stress free man, he said every job requires– The Four T’s.

The second T: Tools

“Put me in a room with a nail, a board, and a screwdriver and I’ll get the nail in the board, it might take a while and I might be very pissed off when I come out, but the nail will be in the board.” -J. Edward Goodwin

The first T (time) anyone can make, shift time away from another activity, or two, and you can find the time for just about anything in your day or week. The next T (Tools) takes another level of commitment to the task. For example, if I want to start doing my own tune-ups, fix a toilet, or start building “whirlygigs” to decorate the yard. I can’t just set aside the time to do it, I have to pull together a collection of tools to do the job. But, not just any tools; the right tools.

The mark of a professional tradesman or an artist is his toolbox. While I shop at Home Depot, the pros use Snap-On or MacTools. They cost more and they are more specialized. Sometimes us home handymen can get away with a tool that’s close, but a pro has a specific tool for each job. The more he does the job the more efficient he becomes with the tool.

The same applies to our dealings with family and others. Every day we are faced with a job to do, listen, encourage, correct, get into the word, spend time listening to God. There are tools that have to be used often to make us efficient and able to cope with life, avoid problems, and fix stuff when it brakes. Your spouse won’t feel heard if you’re doing something else while she’s talking. You’re kids will feel unimportant if you aren’t making an effort to see there point of view, or investing in their education or guiding them in their interpersonal relationships. “Because, I said so,” is like beating on a watch with a mallet, If you bring the hammer out to fix every issue the only thing you fix is that they won’t bother you with their questions anymore. They’ll go elsewhere for the answers.

And its not just with family issues, all the things that come up with people are just attacks from the enemy to get us to fly off the handle or just sit on the couch and let the tools rust in the shed. Here’s the verse for this one:

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Question: How do the right “tools,” physical and figurative make a difference with the jobs put in front of us?

Next: The only difference between you and Tiger Woods is the tools, right…?