Sometimes I find myself asking questions like, is this worth it? or do I have time for this? Or, something I see a lot now days: Are you too busy? Slow down!
I find myself frequenting these question like you might a coffee shop. It is like a habit, daily routine, methodical thought-numbing process. On one hand, this thinking causes me to doubt myself more often.... On the other hand, I am also learning to think twice before saying yes.
God does not reward his people for sitting idly, waiting for Him to make the first move. Sure, it might happen sometimes...but more often than not, God wants us to take action. A few examples of this are in Proverbs 31:27, and Matthew 20:1-16 (1 Thessalonians 5:14 even says that we should admonish and encourage the idle!)
I am constantly wondering if my time and energy are spent in such a way that I am not a part of this 'idle' category. I will be the first to admit that I am a great procrastinator, I enjoy a lazy Saturday afternoon (who am I kidding? Sunday too!) and I do not always use my time wisely.
However, my husband and I are also doers. We like to pour into our friends and family. We want to fellowship with other Christians. We appreciate spending time together doing things we love. We like to hit up the gym after work so we can keep our bodies healthy. We spend time studying at home so we can reach our professional goals. We play soccer. We host, or attend, social events and bible studies. We enjoy the feeling of accomplishment after a hard day of work, around the house or at the office. We both work full-time jobs.
Most of the time, we ARE busy.
Is that so bad?
"Youth is wasted on the young." - George Bernard ShawI often hear this quote, and wonder if I am one of the young who is wasting away my youth. I frequently find myself wishing that time would slow down so that I could revel in the moment. It hasn't, and never will. While our system isn't perfect, we try to pick and choose which things that are worth our time, and those that aren't. Sometimes, it is a challenging decision. I won't deny that there are things lacking in our life. Like most others, we could spend more time in God's word, less time on Netflix, and be better prayer partners for one another. And, those are things we have to work at (perhaps sleep should be added to that list as well!).
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| Jason is very busy snuggling Citra |
Another thing I see quite often are articles or blog posts discussing the negative points to being busy. They say if you are 'too busy' that you aren't managing your time well. That you are probably lazy, or selfish, or petty... and the list goes on.
I am not saying that the type of busy my husband and I experience does not have its downsides, because it does. Sometimes we are exhausted, and don't get around to cleaning the house, taking care of this n' that, or doing the other things we want. However, over the last few years I think we have significantly changed how we value our time, and this has led to good things for us...and I sincerely hope it continues to do so!
I have come to realize that I will ALWAYS have a to-do list. And I am okay with that.
Busy becomes a problem when your 'busy-ness' detracts from the things that really matter. For us, those things are God, our marriage, and relationships with family and friends.
Oddly enough, those things that matter are one of the reasons we are, in fact, busy.
I hope that we can continue to grow in this and learn to be more discerning with our time. After all, we don't know how much of it we have on this earth.
