Busy Busy Busy

Busy seems to be the buzzword today. We all seem to be so busy all of the time. We think our effort and busyness will make all of the things we are busy with get done. But have you ever noticed it doesn’t? What the heck? If we are so busy doing, doing, doing, why are there still eleven hundred things on our to do list?? Help me Jesus…

We seem to grow up with the understanding that we need to be busy. There are things that are our responsibility and if we don’t do them who will? We sometimes wear busyness like a badge. I know I did! For literally 20 years I never stopped, I never sat down. I was always doing something for the people I worked for or coming home to a seemingly endless list of stuff to do. I would fall into bed at night only to rise the next day and start over. 

I never seemed to have time to read God’s word, or pray like I knew I should. I thought how do people fit that into their schedules anyway?!?! Unless I got up before dawn it just wasn’t going happen. Dawn and me aren’t friends so yea, that was a pretty hard concept to swallow. 

The definition of busy is, “engaged in action, full of activity, foolishly or intrusively active.” We can be busy for busyness’s sake sometimes. Doing is the enemy of being. We can love the distraction it provides from having to think about things we’d rather not think about. That’s the kind of busy we should be avoiding. Spend a minute thinking about “why” we are doing what we are doing and be honest about it with ourselves. We can learn a good deal about our real motives this way.

Martha had to learn this hard lesson in Luke 10:38-42. “ As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Martha got distracted by looking at the work and not realizing in that moment she had an opportunity to connect with Jesus. I realized I was doing the same thing, trying to fit God into my schedule when He was asking to be “first’ place in my life. I needed to spend time with him first then set out to accomplish what I needed to. Putting God first can look different at different stages in our lives, especially when we have several babies running around, or a deadline at work. During these seasons we can feel stretched. Everyone seems to need our time and attention. Don’t sweat it. Guilt is never from God. He honors it when our hearts are simply “turned” toward him during those busy seasons.

We can think when we try to spend time with God that we don’t “do it right” like the good Christians do so we stay busy to avoid it.  When we feel insecure in our approach to God we quit. We hear other people pray and think man I don’t sound anything like that! We don’t know how to study the word so we don’t. No one is good at anything without stepping out and doing it. Babies don’t learn to walk by trying it once! Your prayer life doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. The comparison trap will keep us from stepping out. All God wants is YOU. 

Think of your time with God like your relationship with your spouse. Sometimes you can only chat a few minutes on the phone during a busy day, and sometimes it’s very intimate. In intimacy it’s your time to be together, to share yourself with them, no one on his or her phone or watching TV. It’s not intimacy if you are multitasking. But there are times a simple heart to heart with God while driving to work or shopping is wonderful. God conversations should be happening all day long as we feel that need. 

Each time with the Lord will be different; it can be long or short; deeply intimate and profound or simple. Again think of your times with your spouse, sometimes it will be longer conversations than other times. But there is a time for intimacy. How long will marriages last without intimacy? Not long. It’s an important part of a couple’s connection. Without that extra time with the Lord we will lose connection and feel the relationship drying up and losing it’s spark.

God desires relationship with us. Period. He isn’t expecting performance, only our hearts. What is it in your life you can lay aside to give God more of you? Ask him to show you small changes you can make to have more space for him. The more time and attention we give him the more he will reveal himself to us.