With a title like that, I can guess what you’re thinking. “Oh, great. Another blog post about why she’s been too busy to post to her blog. Super.” BUT… you’d be wrong! (insert evil laughter here)
There is something I want to say about busyness though. I hear everyone talking about it. It’s usually preceded by the word “too”. How is it that everybody is “too busy”? Not just, “I’m sorry I can’t meet you for coffee on Saturday morning, I’m busy that day.” But, “Uhhhhh, I’d LOVE to have coffee with you, but I’m just too busy.”
Really? Too busy for coffee? I suppose I could get a wee paranoid. Hmmm… maybe it’s just me. Certainly they aren’t that busy. Maybe she doesn’t like me and is secretly hoping I’ll stop asking. I could think those things. Except, I’m too busy to ASK anyone to sit and chat with me over coffee!
This is no news flash. Busyness in families is as common as dust on a windowsill. Sometimes we have choices about how busy to make our days and other times, it’s just the way life is at the moment.
I think in the year 2013 it’s expected that you’ll be busy. So how busy is too busy? I’ve been pondering that exact question for quite some time. And here is what I think…
~If your church offers multiple opportunities for your kids to participate in serving your community, and for some strange reason, they always fall on a night you have ball practice…. you might be too busy.
~If you feel like you are always in your car and never have a quiet moment in your home to pause, reflect, and be still before the Lord… you might be too busy.
~If you feel God prompting you to lead a Sunday School class but you don’t have time during the week to prepare a lesson… you might be too busy.
~If you know of a young mother who is struggling, whom you could mentor through a tough spot, but don’t have time to call or text or encourage her in any way…. you might be too busy.
In other words, if you are unable to do the things that, as a Christian, God has asked you to do (serving, praying, teaching, etc), then you are too busy and need to cut some things out.
I realize this is not an easy thing to do. But as I began to cut some things out of my own life, I asked myself why we were doing those things in the first place and why was it bothering me to quit them.
Take baseball for instance. Emery likes to play, sure, but he doesn’t love it. He’s always excited when the season first starts but then, as it goes on (and on and on and OMG… on), he begins complaining and wants to have some time to play with his friends in the neighborhood. I shutter at the cost every time I sign him up. And I too, get tired of running around and eating food on the fly during ball season.
So it begs the question: Why do we do it?
Well, his dad and I played ball. All his friends play ball. He’s a good ball player. He likes it. Kids are supposed to play a sport, right? Be involved. Social. Skilled. A healthy future depends on this, right?
Or does it? And what if we cut it out? Panic sets in. What if kids think he’s weird? What if baseball is his ticket to college? Will we destroy his career???
Or, it could be, by giving up baseball, we open the door of opportunity to other things. I was involved in every sport or extra-curricular activity I could possibly be in growing up. It was fun, but as an adult I’ve had the hardest time overcoming the sin of busyness. Of being so self-involved and driven by the world’s view of success, that even if I get a clear word from the Lord about serving others, I can’t possibly find the time.
I like this from Haggai 1:8-10 (I know, right, Haggai???) “Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,†says the Lord. “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?†declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.”
God was withholding their blessings because His temple was lying in ruins and all they cared about were their own houses. We may not have a temple to rebuild, but we do have a kingdom to establish.
And so my point is not to say that we should never have our kids in sports or belong to a book club or take that cooking class. And I’m not saying that every spare moment should be spent by serving God. But what I am saying is that He should direct your path. Ask Him how He would have you serve. Where does He want to use you? Then, fill in the gaps as time allows.
2 Comments
Makes me think of the Professor and the Mayonnaise Jar:
http://www.pagetutor.com/jokebreak/263.html
This is good…really, really good! I think you’ve hit the nail on the head! The things we give our heart and affections to are what we worship…great “meat” to chew on!