{{2016_07_17_t1.jpg}} {{2016_07_17_t2.jpg}} {{2016_07_17_t3.jpg}} [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2016_07_17|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]] [[topics_collection_viii|| Topics Collection viii ]] ======What is important? ...====== Sunday, July 17, 2016. What is important to you? What is important for your life? - Hello, friend. There is a lot which is important for me. - That is? - There is my family. I am married, as you know. My wife, but also my kids, my daughters, my son. They are very important. - That I can understand, is there anything else? - ... {{2016_07_17.jpg }} **List of important things ...** There are several other things which are important. I need to earn my living. My work is important - for my family and for myself. - Ok, that sounds plausible to me. What else? And I have some further questions here, but I will ask a little later! - First go down you list of important things! ... I am active in my church. There are a lot of people I appreciate, I love, I support. That is important. I try to have time for them - providing service, guidance and work for them. Not fully easy, ... a lot to think about. - Ok, I get the basic points, and keep further questions for later. Tell me more about important things! - ... Importance ... you know that God is the key important force and being in my life. You know that it is important for me to work in science, to gain insight, and to convert this into service and activity! ... And it is important to me to work for the general good. I do not claim that this is completely self-less. It is a mixture. You do something for the others, and you get a lot of things back, from your salary to appreciation, invitations, positions, ... {{ 2016_07_17_2.jpg}} **Now ask your questions ...** But please, now ask your questions. What do you want to know? - There is a first question from above. In what way is your work important. Does it have a value by itself? People have searched power, appreciation, fame, money ... how is that for you? - I must say: of course I also search appreciation with what I do. I think everyone who does something is happy if it is taken serious by others. Everyone will value appreciation. I am searching it too - appreciation by the Lord, the holy God, and by the people for whom I am doing it. ... What is difficult with working for the church? You mentioned that it is difficult. - I like many people in the church. I really feel deep love for them. But many are also different. There needs to be a balance: I want to do what they need. But I am also myself, with my particular gifts. If I am no longer myself, then I cannot go on for long. I will break down. So my love is difficult to live - on one hand I want to do what is good for the others, on the other hand I want to be myself. It does not necessarily fit together all the time. Can you explain the role of God for your life, for your family and your work, for your church activities and other things? - I can, but that takes more space than we have here. I think that God owns all of my life, that he is the creator of everything, including science, including my job, my family, my church, our country and our whole world. All of it! So he is in all of it, and I am searching his advice and his spirit in all of it. That by itself is a fantastic and far reaching enterprise. ... - Yes, that sound far reaching indeed. We should talk more. Let us continue another day, ok? - Yes, thank you, many thanks indeed. (Roland Potthast) [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/doku.php/topics_collection_viii|... more texts]]