Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber
merchant, and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the work
conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his
best.

His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed
to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees.

"Congratulations," the boss said. "Go on that way!" Very motivated for
the boss' words, the woodcutter try harder the next day,but he only
could bring 15 trees. The third day he try even harder, but he only
could bring 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing less and less
trees.

"I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought. He went to the
boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was
going on.

"When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss asked.
"Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy
trying to cut trees."

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take
time to sharpen the axe." 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 a good book or to dive deep into oneself . 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. So start today. Think about the ways by which you
could do your job more effectively and add a lot of value to it.

*collected from Internet.