I hear, “My family is the most important thing to me.”, so often from my own two lips, from folks I love, from people I know well and others whom I hardly at all. If that is true, then why is it that those very ones we love the most are the ones who get our very least. The least of our patience, the least of our time and energy, the least of our affection, and the least of our priorities. I know, I am being a little harsh here..maybe it’s not the least or maybe its not that way everyday, but oh, my heart just breaks when I see OUR words and OUR actions not lining up.
So, why is that? As the seven-day flu quarantine has taken its toll on me and some other tough issues have been weighing on my heart, I have been praying over this and pondering it for a couple of days now, and this is what I’ve come up with.
We’re too busy. We try and do too much, too fast, too soon. We say, “yes” when the answer should be “no”. Right now in my life I have three roles that ONLY I can fill. In my opinion, these are my God given and God ordained places that I was uniquely created and established for. And they are: being my husband’s wife, being my son’s mom, and being my daughter’s mom. Those roles no one else can fill. A lot comes with that, and I want to give those three positions my everything. All else can either be done by someone else or is not important. When things being to get tough, it is absolutely necessary that I remind myself of this. There is so much out there biding for my time, attention, and affection. Good things, no great things, that I love and I am passionate about, but when those things begin to take president over the #1 thing we’ve got a problem. I think often times we wear our busyness in one of two ways, and oh, if your like me sometimes BOTH, as a badge or as a mask. We either want to show off how busy we are as if saying to the world, “look at me and all I do because I am so important, so irreplaceable.” or we hide behind it and use it as our excuse “I can’t right now because I am too busy.”
When we hold on to things and busy up our lives we are robbing God of two things: first, the opportunity for someone else to be a part of His amazing work, and secondly, our undivided heart that fully trusts in Him. Do you really need to be doing that? Or does God want to give that responsibility to someone else, which may be their #1 thing, so you can focus on your #1 thing.
So, how does one “debusy”? How can I lessen this load on my day or my week? For me it is taking these two steps:
First, Get Perspective. It is of utmost importance that when I am racing and feeling overwhelmed to stop and get the BIGGER picture. At the end of the day, what really matters? What really has to get done? When the emotions are spinning and the to-do list seems endless, that’s when things get the Goliath complex. Little tasks all the sudden become huge and unconquerable. So, let’s grab our slings and stones and take the ToDo s down one at a time!
Second, Simplify. We have lost the forest in sight of the tree. We over-complicate things. I think we spend a lot of wasted time and energy on thinking and talking about how to do things rather than simplifying doing them in the most direct and efficient manner. We can’t major on the minors. We have to keep the main thing, the MAIN thing.
With our perspective in check, our actions steps simple and direct, then we need to go for it and do it to the best of your abilities, giving it all you’ve got with no regrets. I believe when we truly do that, all the rest will fall into place.
I also believe when we do this we will have the time and energy to get the things done God would have us to do without compromising that which is the most important. For me it is my family, and I want them to SEE that.
What about you?