Has this ever been you? (Or is it just me?) You keep planning for things you will do when your life slows down. Saying things like, “When we get past this, we will have more time.” “When that is over, we won’t have as much to deal with.” “Well, this week has a lot going on, maybe next week I will be able to…. (fill in the blank here.)”
After a long time in the season of “busy,” I finally learned a valuable lesson: things are not just randomly going to slow down. I spent so much time making plans for some future time that I was missing out on more important things I could and should have been doing. I missed the life I should have been living. I realized that I was wishing away my life waiting.
Being so busy reminded me of one of my favorite bible stories, found in Luke chapter 10, when Jesus comes to the home of Mary and Martha. As much as I want to say I would have the heart of Mary realizing the importance and need for sitting at the Master’s feet, if I am to be honest with myself, I am afraid I would be Martha. I tend to always be able to find some “busy-ness” to be about.
“And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42
I place so much on my own plate that I am afraid I am pushing to the side the most nutritious parts of life until sometimes it feels as though the things that are good for me are barely hanging on the edge. I have realized if I want to find more peace and calm in my life, then I am going to have to slow down enough to spend the time listening to my Lord instead of busying my hands with so much work.
Once I put my days, my life, in the right perspective, the rest will get done and if it doesn’t, as my husband says, in one hundred years it won’t matter anyway! The truth is though, in one hundred years my relationship with my Lord will be all that has ever mattered!
I realize that right now, while I am young (ish) and able, it may not seem like a big problem to stay so busy, because I still manage to somehow get it all done. But I can see into my future (well, I wish, but for now I can imagine) that if I don’t learn to say “no” to some things, I will lose my ability to say “yes” to the best things! If I continue to stay busy, I am going to miss out on so much life!
If I want a life of peace, a life that isn’t filled to the brim to so much to do that I feel forced to stay up late or work myself to death to get it all accomplished, then I must change. There is something more that I am going to miss if I don’t learn to slow down.
So, I am learning to say “no”! I am learning to say “no” to that extra episode on Netflix, so I can say yes to extra time reading His word. I am going to say “no” to that extra few minutes on Facebook, so I can say “yes” to a few extra minutes of cuddle time with the kids before bed. I am going to say ‘no” to the endless lives of a mindless game, so I can say “yes” to filling my mind with something that will help it grow. I am going to look for other things that I can say “no” to, so I can have more time to say “yes” to the better things in life!
Every day we are faced with choices. Every time we say yes to something that means we are saying no to something else. When we say use to the use of our time in one area, we are saying no to using it for anything else. Am I going to say yes to the good, or to the better? Am I going to choose life or life more abundant?
What choice should we make today?
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;” Deuteronomy 30:19
In Christian Love,
