Busy, Busy, Busy

“For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”
Matthew 13:15

These past couple weeks have been insanely busy for my amazing wife and I. Between problems at the day jobs, graduation, proms, etc, etc it has been a blitz and I have really struggled with staying focused and my priorities. I was reading this story the other day about a man who is a real ‘go-to’ guy at his corporation and this guy, a director for his company, is just ready to melt down and scream from the stress. He’s talked to his friends, his co-workers and his pastor and he just can’t understand why with all the effort and extra time things are not falling into place. As he hangs up from this last late night conference call he notices this same old fellow out cleaning. With his head spinning even faster from this last call he goes out and asks this older fellow how it is that he always appears so calm. The old guy tells him that he spends a lot of time in solitude, prayer and meditation. This leaves the young exec wondering why he is wasting his time with this old fool but to humor him he follows up with – ‘Ok buddy, but I’m a busy, successful and hard-driving businessman and if I wasted time on all that nonsense don’t you think it would take the drive out of me? The old guy, puts down his broom, walks over and says – ‘No son, it will simply make you an easy driving businessman - who ever said the drive had to be hard?’

In about 3 years, a fellow by the name of Jesus accomplished His life’s work and change the course of human history. He understood and accepted his destiny and by all accounts he never hurried anywhere, always had time for people and found time to pray and be alone and I ‘d venture to say was more calm and in control than you or I have ever been. What was clear was that He understood his priorities, He lived those priorities and He lived always in the present. And I have noticed that when I am in the grip of my past or the future there is never enough time for the present and priorities tend to get trampled or forgotten.

“’Busyness’ rapes relationships. It substitutes shallow frenzy for deep friendship. It promises satisfying dreams, but delivers hollow nightmares. It feeds the ego, but starves the inner (wo)man. It fills the calendar but fractures the family. It cultivates a program but plows under priorities.”
C. Swindoll

And speaking of busyness, it also applies to my relationship with God as I am reminded that I must first be willing to let go before I can grasp something else and the first thing to let go of is any pretense or deceit. God wants not our goodness or doing more/bigger/better but our kneeling before him bringing our real, naked sin. When my father died last year I got very clear on priorities. There is something about death that so clarifies life. And then as the many months went by those priorities were trampled by what I call “reality”.

So today is the day for yours truly to refill my ‘tank’ of life. And how are your ‘tanks’ my friends? Your family? Your friendships? Your work? Your finances? Your church? Your life? Need a refill?

“Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
John 7:38

Ahhhhhhh……. Living streams of water….. Communion with God…. Tastes great …..AND less filling ;-)