Spending Time and Spinning Wheels

I've been meaning to write this post for a couple weeks, but haven't been able to make the time to do it, or rather, haven't taken the time to do it.  I actually think that's fitting because that's what this post is about...

Time.

I first thought of writing this blog after having a conversation with friends at lunch.  Josiah and I were enjoying a wonderful Tucano's lunch with another couple and they were saying there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done.

How often have we all felt like that?

Once I feel like there's a blog I should write, I'm often barraged with feedback from different areas of my life.  It's God gives me multiple examples of concepts and chooses my direction.  Since that lunch I have talked to so many people who are having the same issues.  How do I spend my time?

One friend said she recently asked God to tell her where she was spending her time unwisely, and that very same day her son mentioned how much time she seems to spend on facebook.

Another friend is being torn by his desires to accomplish his goals and feelings of obligations toward his family.

And me...I just can't seem to get it all done, which is especially disconcerting because I'm about to take on something very time consuming...homeschooling.

There's just not enough time...ever!!

Or is there....

There is a microeconomic principle called "opportunity cost," which basically states that you have to choose.  The same dollar cannot be spent it two places, and therefore, there is something that is lost (a "cost") every time you make a choice to spend your money on one thing instead of another.  For example, if I have ten dollars I can either buy one pizza or two five dollar DVDs (yes, I'm ignoring tax), but I can't do both.  Whichever item I DON'T choose is the opportunity cost.

Time, like money, is a finite resource.  No matter which way you slice it, there are only 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds in a minute.  Each second, minute, and hour we choose how to use our time and whatever isn't chosen is the opportunity cost...the next best option we didn't do.

I'm one of the busiest people I know.  I have four children, just had yard sales two weekends in a row, I'm doing music at VBS this week, I start back to school full-time in a couple months, I'm on the women's ministry committee, and I think there are some other things but I can't think of them right now.

The friend I was talking to at lunch is even busier.  Her family homeschools, has baseball, gymnastics, co-ops, and their house is always super clean.  They have multiple social commitments and responsibilities at church.

These are all great things right?  And it's no wonder I (or she) just want to sit down every now and then - I'm way more successful at the sitting down sometimes than she is.  

But while these are all good things, are they the things God really wants us to do?

Did we even consider Him in our plans for the day?

Have we opened our Bibles in the morning to consider His Word, His Plan, and His Glory?

I know I haven't been.

When the Bible talks about the virtuous women whose worth is far greater than rubies (Proverbs 31) that women sounds busy!!  She is wheeling and dealing, serving her family and her community.  She's involved in all aspects of her home an in business.  She is IN IT!! 

But I think there's a small part of that passage that we, as women, have a tendency to overlook -

verse 30- "Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, 

but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."

A woman who fears the Lord...not the woman who is the busiest...she who fears the Lord.

So let me ask this, if we are working for the Lord and our families all the time, but have no inner peace, are we really working for Him...or are we working for ourselves and the world.  God did not tell us we needed to be involved in everything.  Instead Jesus said, 

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Matthew 11:28

And Paul said,

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, 

with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God,

which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-8

So, is it a sin to be busy?  I don't think so.  God made us all, and some of us just thrive off of being busy.  We are all "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14) and we each operate somewhat differently.

However, I would venture to say that if you don't have peace in what you're doing, if you are constantly exasperated by your tasks and how much you have to do, then you are forgetting Him.  You are forgetting to consult Him each morning on what that day should and will hold.  You are choosing your commitments based upon what you think you should do instead of what He is telling you to do.

You are forgoing peace in Him for being busy.

And that, my friends, is spinning your wheels...expending energy within no gain...because as Christians, if we are not actively serving Him and seeking His face and His glory, then we are working for the other side.

"If you're not with me, then you are my enemy."

That is not Jesus or Paul...that is a cranky, soon-to-be Darth Vadar in Star Wars...but I think it works in this case.

Satan wants to steal our peace, and we make it so easy for him.  We are such willing victims. 

I have been such a willing victim.

But no more.  I am going to post this blog.  Then, I will shut the computer down, get on my knees, and ask God to give me the strength to accomplish HIS purpose today.  

Then, I will wait in silence for a few minutes until I feel His peace...and then I'll get on with my day, knowing well that He is with me and will give me the strength and ability to accomplish whatever He sets before me.

Care to join me?  Let's seek Him...then it's GO time.