Busy (4th and Final)

Too busy?  What are you pursuing?

If you or I desire to be less “busy,” we must be focused with regard to what we pursue.  We tend to focus on the things we should – or choose to – avoid.  One who is diligent is focused regarding what he or she pursues. 

Not long after we moved to Loveland, I volunteered for a time at a Christian crisis pregnancy center.  I really enjoyed the work that I did there.  But you know what?  At that time I had five young children at home and baby six was on the way, and my work there interfered with my ability to fulfill my primary roles – wife and mother – to the best of my ability.  So I chose to omit that secondary role for the time being, so that I could better pursue excellence in my primary roles.

There are a myriad of opportunities with which you and I could fill our time.  Jobs, committees, leagues, volunteer opportunities, fundraisers, ball games, social events…  Many of these opportunities are good, in and of themselves.  But you and I are finite.  Our energy is finite.  The time which we are given is finite.  Each of us has the responsibility to determine how we can best use the time that God has given us, remembering that our goal is the praise of His name.  We also have to be careful what responsibilities we place on others.  It’s easy to assume that everyone else has more time or less to do than what we have.  Each of us has 24 hours in the day, and that is always enough time to do the things that God has commanded us to do.  It’s all the “extras” that we add that make us “busy.”

So what about all those secondary things with which we could fill our time?  God has given each of us specific gifts.  I’m better at some things than I am at others.  I more efficiently use my time with certain things than with others.  Sometimes, I’m weighed down by the many needs I see around me.  That realization of my own insufficiency drives me to the Lord in prayer, asking Him for the wisdom that I need to steward my time and resources well. 

Here’s a quote from blogger Tim Challies:

The call, then, is to find the best things I can do with the time allotted to me, while waiting for the great day when time will no longer be finite, when opportunities will no longer be limited. It is to prioritize those few things I can actually accomplish, and to learn to let go of the rest. It is to live the life God has for me, and not to attempt to live a different life altogether. It is to obey the words of God: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16). Evil, and far too few. No, that’s not it. Evil, and just enough to do all He calls me to do.

                What about all the interruptions that come at us throughout the day?  As a mom, I’ve often despaired that I am unable to do anything without being interrupted (and that’s not an exaggeration, as my fellow moms know!).  It’s pretty easy for me to feel as if I’m always busy, constantly distracted.  The dishes often need to be loaded into the dishwasher hours after lunch is over because one interruption led to another.  Dealing with these interruptions in a godly manner – rather than reacting in anger or frustration – requires that I be aware of my own limitations.  That necessary for you, too!  We need to remember that:

Only God gets his to-do list done every day. God gets it all done every day. You, on the other hand, will go to bed tonight with your list incomplete and with little confidence that you will make it all the way through tomorrow’s. Only God can have that confidence. And that’s okay. God made you to be limited and he knows that your sin has limited you even further.

Dealing with interruptions requires an awareness that God is sovereign and you are not. When you trust a sovereign God you know that no interruption has caught God by surprise. This frees you from outbursts of anger or depths of despair. It allows you pause and to consider whether each of these interruptions has been brought by God as an opportunity to do good to someone else. It removes any right to automatically refuse them.  (Ibid).

“Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2 Peter 3:13-14).

Loved one, how are you today?  (Please don’t say “busy”! J)