80/20 is Just a Fact of Life

I get frustrated sometimes with all of the administrative work necessary to do the three or four objectives of my passion and call. I am constantly trying to find ways to streamline the administration so I can spend more time on my passions. In the creation story, we see administration and organizational support tasks are very much a part of the preparation for the execution of our plans. From Genesis, chapter one, we can learn an organizational lesson in understanding how God organized creation.

On the first through fourth days, God organized creation. He established light and darkness, land and seas, and he created the vegetation to sustain life. During the first four days of creation, God created and organized an environment to host the life he would create on the fifth and sixth days.

Obviously, to me, the life created on the fourth and fifth days were the point of creation, particularly the creation of human beings. God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over…all the earth (NIV).” The narrative’s focus quickly turns to the importance and the role of humankind. One of two things happened (and perhaps a little of both); either God created mankind to lead, manage, and steward this creation on God’s behalf, or God created the earth and all that is in it as an environment to sustain the object of his creation—mankind. I think it is the latter, though the former is a responsibility of humankind as the primary contribution toward their sustenance.

God created this world and us out of the love and desire of a Father. He spent 83% of his work week creating the environment that would employ, sustain, and nurture us and he spent 16% of his work week creating the object of his creation (us). Let those among us who do not understand the value of rest and personal time note that God spent 14% (one day) of his total week doing whatever God does when he rests.

It is interesting that the Pareto Principle, a.k.a. the 80/20 rule, seems to apply to this situation. So, following the example of God, do not be discouraged when you spend 80% of your time preparing and developing the environment for the 20% of your work that fulfills the passion of your calling. You are in good company, and, that is just the way things work.

One more thing…God himself modeled the importance of rest—follow his example.