So Little Time; So Little Life!

Why is it that people are so busy these days? As someone who is a stay-at-home disabled mom...(of an 18 year old)...I have the time to take a leisurely look at the lives of many of my friends...and I'm puzzled by what I see. I was always active before becoming seriously disabled. I worked; I was a mom; I cooked I kept my house clean; I taught Bible Study; I attended church, Bible studies, and many church functions; shopped; did laundry...worked out...took my daughter to Brownies and swimming lessons; home-schooled for several years....And I don't think I was EVER as frenetically busy as are the people I see around me on a daily basis. I had time to spend several hours in prayer and personal Bible study in the mornings...I read books...I socialized with my friends... and I worked hard at my art career and the work of creativity.

But people now...and this is the RULE, not the exception...are so busy that if you ask them to stick a stamp on a letter, they can't fit it into their schedules. I know this to be true, because I often need to "bum rides" to the pharmacy for example--a trip that would take someone 15 minutes--and most often, the answer I get is, "I just really don't have a free minute today." What is sucking up these people's time? It is not necessarily their jobs, because most of these people are women who stay at home. Is it the karate lessons, the ...the WHAT??? I truthfully don't know. How can a person allow themselves to become so busy that they are in a continual state of frenzy ...so busy that they don't have time to even LIVE?

Is it a mis-management of time? Are they simply disorganized? Do they sleep until noon? Are they SO wrapped up in their children that God and church and their neighbors must all take a backseat? I am truly confused about this. Are they REALLY not that busy, but simply can't be bothered to help out? I find that hard to believe. Are they so disorganized that they are just really confused about the amount of available time they have...and then when free time does come up, they forget about my need?

Maybe they are simply over-committed.

But if they are so over-c0mmitted, then why is it that the church does not have enough volunteers for anything they need to get done??? What are these people spending their time doing??? I would love to sneak into their homes and observe them for a day...


I do not mean to sound superior here. Nor do I mean to sound accusatory...because I do not truly feel either of these things. I'm just dying of curiosity! I wonder to myself, how it is that we, as Christians, can allow ourselves to become so overwhelmed by life that we cannot meet the needs of those around us...including our own church?

Are mismanagement of time and an illness of priorities the culprits? I believe that these two factors are probably more to blame than any of the others. Do people spend twenty minutes looking for their car keys and 40 minutes chatting on the phone and then spend an hour in front of the TV and then one or two hours surfing the net...and then suddenly realize they have only a half hour before dinner time and a Bible study to attend that night, for which they are unprepared? I could be totally wrong about this and if I am please forgive me.

My purpose is not to point fingers or to mock anyone's lifestyle. What I think we all (ALL of us, four fingers pointing back at me) need to realize is that time is a gift and an entrustment given to us by God. Whether we do too much with our time and neglect other things...or whether we do not do enough with our time and have too much of it on our hands (as is my case)...we are going to have to one day give an accounting to God for how we spent every minute. And a defense of "I never had enough time because I was too busy" is not going to hold any water.

Jesus had more demands on His time than probably most other people we can think of. He had three years. He had to train twelve men adequately so that they were capable of carrying on without him in the spawning of a faith that was to change the entire world for thousands of years to come. He had to somehow support his needs and the needs of his disciples for food and daily provision...and he had THOUSANDS of needy people pulling at his sleeves to be healed or helped. He had also, to fight off the arguments of the Pharisees and evade their efforts to kill him and to destroy his ministry before his appointed time to die. And He STILL had the time to go into the mountains and meet with his Father for several days at a time. He STILL had time to go to parties, weddings, socialize and have dinners with friends...and teach at the synagogue.

Sure we can argue, "Yeah, but he was GOD...of course he could handle all of that." But I fully believe that in these matters he was man first. This was an area that he had to deal with in his human weakness and with his human resources. So how did he do it? How did he pull it off?

1) He did not waste time. You never hear of him doing ANYTHING that was not relevant to his mission here on earth.

2) He was not diverted or distracted by anything. The Bible tells us that Jesus, "Set his face like flint toward Jerusalem" (ie: the cross). He had an appointment to keep. And he allowed nothing to get in his way or distract him from meeting that goal. Do we know what our overriding purpose is in this life? It cannot be a general thing like "to please God and man"...What specifically do you hope and need to accomplish in your time on this planet? Do you know?? Have you asked God, what HIS goal for your life is?? There's no way you can act consistently with a goal, if you do not know what that goal is.

3) He did not allow himself to be pushed into meeting EVERY need or fitting into everyone else's time frame or schedule. When Mary and Martha summoned him to come and heal their brother,--even though Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus'--Jesus did not jump at their beckoning. He had other priorities. He had another appointment to keep before he kept that one. And he did not allow even his own love for Lazarus to divert him or sway him. He knew that, in the carrying out of the Father's will and purposes, some people are NOT always going to like the choices or decisions that one must make. And that was okay with him. His goal on earth, as he often repeated, was to do the will of the Father...To carry out the Father's instructions and to bring the Father the glory. And, as he told said, when informed of Lazarus' illness, "it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it" and THAT was his objective. Not pleasing Mary and Martha. Not the opinions of the crowd who probably had a lot to say about his not being there in time to heal Lazarus. And not even alleviating Lazarus' suffering. NO, it was with complete consistency with his life's purpose that Jesus acted.

And also, there were many other sick and disabled people there in Nazareth, Galilee and Jerusalem whom Jesus DID NOT HEAL. Why? Because his purpose for coming to earth was not to heal people of their physical distress. It was to heal them of there spiritual mortal illness. The physical healings were only done because they augmented his main goal by bringing him and his cause to the attention of the masses. Again, Jesus acted in perfect consistency with his reason for coming to this earth.

There are many times when we must pass up on very good, very laudable commitments or activities simply because they are not in keeping with what God has called us to do. And there will be people who will not understand that. There will probably be complaints. But who are we here to please? God? Or others?

I think that one of the best things we can do with our time is self-evaluation. When is the last time you sat down with a microscope and examined your life and your goals and how well you are meeting those goals? When is the last time you asked God for his input in those areas? When is the last time you took an AXE to your schedule and cut off or out, things that are diverting your time and energy from things that are more consistent with your calling? When someone calls on you to do a task, join a committee, do a favor...who or what do you consult? Do you look at your watch and then your to-do list and make a decision based on that information? Or do you go to your knees and ask the Father what HE wants for you to do?? Too many times we utilize our own rationalizations, our own logic or our own wish to please others as a compass for our directions.

I don't know if I've convicted you at all here, or made you think...but these thoughts have challenged me. I face different challenges than most of you...but these guidelines are relevant to us all. And I'm no exception to my own challenges to you here today.