But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33).
A man I knew lost his daily planner a while back. It contained all his contact addressees, his calendar, to do list, and monthly reminders. It even held his personal credit card information and expenses for the past year. He was devastated. Not as much for the loss of his personal information, which was bad enough, but because he had appointments scheduled and notes to himself that he hadn't recorded anywhere else. He didn't know where he was supposed to be or when, and he didn't know what he needed to do!
In our society, many people greatly rely on planners, computers, wall calendars, or personal digital assistants (PDA's) to keep them on schedule and to help them accomplish all they need to do. I know...I'm one of them! Because our plates are too full of the smorgasbord of life - church, work, school, grocery shopping, errands, ball games, school plays, bowling leagues, doctor appointments, church dinners, club meetings, etc. - we must keep a written account of what we need to do and when. Without it, we're lost and unable to accomplish our desired, or even necessary, objectives.
Does that describe you? Do you find yourself too busy to manage your life without putting your schedule in writing? Do you ever say to yourself or to someone else, "If I don't write that down, I'll forget it?" Do you feel as if you spend as much time recording your life events as you do participating in them? Would you be devastated if you lost your daily planner? Welcome to the club!
"Too busy" is a phrase we say and hear as often today as "good morning." Busyness is such a part of all of our lives that most of us simply can't manage without help in one form or another. Consider these statistics:
•Being too busy is the number on reason Americans use for not voting.
•An Ecological Study for Growth Assessment conducted by a student at the Nazarene Bible College in Colorado USA stated that 55% of those who do not attend church say it's because they are too busy.
•Of a group of pastors polled as to why they believe people don't read their Bibles, 47% said it was because they were too busy.
•Nearly half (49%) of the people polled by Barna.org about the quality of their life stated that they were too busy. This was especially true of those under 50. And in the same survey, a whopping 57% of the Catholics polled said this statement applied to them!
•In another survey, Barna found that 53% of Baby Busters (those born between 1965 and 1983) and 49% of Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) describe themselves as too busy.
•According to a survey conducted by the Pastor's Care Network, "17,000 to 50,000 [pastors are] annually departing from the formal church" and the reason they're leaving? You guessed it. The Church is too busy to help them in their ministries.
•And while statistics were not readily available, there are even women who believe they are too busy to have their own children so they are hiring surrogate mothers to do it for them!
Can this really be what God intends for us?
If our lives are too busy to attend church, too busy to read our Bibles, too busy to vote, to busy to minister to the needs of those around us, too busy to have our own children - our lives are simply too busy! Busy is not a sin, too busy can be.
The danger in being too busy lies in not allowing quality time for God, our family, our neighbors, and ourselves. If our lives are such that we push God and our loved ones aside, or that we refuse to help others because we simply can't find the time, we need to re-evaluate our schedules.
There are many resources available to help us reduce the busyness of life. Begin today by setting aside some time to look at your calendar and see where it's lacking in what's important and where it's too full of what's simply pressing. I may mean that we have to eliminate some things. It may mean that we choose only one sport or planned activity for our children instead of three, or that we choose to join only one special interest group instead of many, or that we don't attend every social event our church hosts (this sin't to say we should miss worship services!)
Whatever the status of our personal calendars, if we seek God and His righteousness FIRST and then allow time for the relationships in our lives, God will help us to accomplish more than we ever dreamed we could without His help.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Lord Jesus, please help me today to evaluate how and where I spend my time and to be certain that I put you in first place in my schedule. In your sweet name I pray. Amen.
Darlene "Dee" Bishop
www.paulmurphybooks.com
All scripture used from the New King James Version, © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Copyright © 2006 Darlene Bishop. All rights reserved worldwide.
Darlene "Dee" Bishop is a Nazarene pastor, creative designer and writer. Visit her Website at http://christiansitesolutions.com to see how she can help your church create an affordable Internet presence and develop effective online solutions today.
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