Incentive

What does it take to motivate you? Some of us need money or recognition. Others of us just have an inner drive to get it done. I've been trying to motivate my son Riley to read this summer. He's going into 6th grade and I want him to become a lifelong reader. That's a struggle I have and is one of the reasons I'm not finished with my DMin project.

During the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast, John Maxwell said his father did not give him and his siblings an allowance for doing chores because you did chores because you are part of the family. Instead, his father gave them an allowance for reading books. Not just any books but books that would challenge their reading ability and their thought processes.

I like that idea so I adopted it for Riley for this summer. We need to save money wherever we can so Riley tags along with me when school is out instead of going to a daycare or something like that. Since I have a certain amount of study and sermon prep to do, he has lots of time for reading.

He's spent most of that time watching TV or playing video games, though. That's only partially his fault. I must carry most of the blame.

Anyway, we went to Barnes & Noble Bookstore several weeks ago and picked out four books for his summer reading program. And we added some books of the Bible to round out a list of biographies, mysteries, fun stuff, and scripture.

And he gets a handsome allowance when he completes each book. To date, I am out ZERO DOLLARS! He's always asking for an allowance so I told him about Maxwell's reading deal. We both liked it. He just doesn't stick with it very long. I understand.

But when I make him sit down and read, like right now, he's constantly telling me about something in the book. Maybe we are making progress.

Sometimes you just have to do something you're not all that excited about in order to gain something you really want. For Riley, that means reading in order to get an allowance.

Will y'all take up a collection for an incentive for me to finish my DMin project? I need something. Maybe I just need to do what I'm not all that excited about in order to gain something that would be really meaningful to me.