Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Patrick Miller.

Here's one of my favorite personality tests.

Given the choice, do you clean up before you relax or after you relax?

In other words, is it time to clean the dishes right after dinner or the next morning?

Should you straighten up the living room before you watch TV or after you finish?

I know my answer. Work, then play.

After all, how can you relax that there's a big mess around you? So perhaps it's for this

reason that generally speaking, everyone in my family is relaxing and connecting in the morning while

I'm scrambling around to make sure that the trash is emptied, the dishes are all cleaned,

that the laundry is moving, that the bed is made. Or perhaps that's why after I eat my dinner, I finish my last bite and almost can't help but walking straight to the sink and starting to clean all of the dishes all at once rather than staying at the table and talking. And if I'm being honest, I kind of think that I do things the right way, right? I do business before I do fun. And I think it's not just the right way for me.

I kind of think it's the right way for everyone. Now, to be clear, I am not a clean freak. My desk can be

super messy and I'm not bothered by piles. But if I know that work needs to be done in a day,

my general mentality is to just finish it as soon as possible because I can't enjoy much

of anything else with that work looming over my head. So if I know that I have to clean, I just

have to get the cleaning done. Now, maybe you're like me, or maybe your best friend is like me,

or maybe your spouse is like me. And whichever side you fall on, the other side probably makes you feel crazy.

I know if you asked my wife, she'd say that my need to work and then play often means that we

don't ever get to the play part, because there's always more to do. So what in practice sounds noble,

I clean the dishes before I sit down and relax eventually amounts to just ignoring my family because

I'm always cleaning and I'm always doing something rather than spending time with them. Now, of course,

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