A few years ago it was pointed out to me that we MAKE time for what is important to us. You probably don't have to think very hard about how that is true in your life... We all have things that we love to do and don't even think about if we have time or not, and then there are other things that we constantly are putting off because "we don't have time to..."
Any of these sound familiar?
- "I don't have time to exercise"
- "I don't have time to read"
- "I don't have time to get organized"
- "I don't have time to cook healthy
meals"
- "I don't have time to clean my
house"
- "I don't have time to be patient or
kind to my kids"
- "I don't have time to visit that
person"
- "I don't have time to grocery
shop"
- "I don't have time to ____ shop"
- "I don't have time to read my
Bible"
- "I don't have time to pray"
- "I don't have time to write and send
cards"
- "I don't have time to take
pictures"
- "I don't have time to sleep"
I
could go on, but you get the idea. I'm sure I've said most of these at various
times.
But
here's the deal. Those aren't true. We've been given 24 hours each and every
day. That's a LOT of time. Sure, it's not enough to do every single thing that
we want to. But if you look at your days, you have time to do what you want to do. You're choosing to do it. We
MAKE time for our priorities.
So
here's my challenge: next time you start to say (to yourself or anyone else)
"I don't have time ___", stop and say instead "I don't make time to ____".
And
don't worry, it's not a bad thing to say "I don't make time to read or
exercise or..." anything else that's for me. What IS bad to say is that I
don't make time to serve God and other people (i.e. "I don't make time to
pray or be patient or make food for my family or text a friend in need").
(Follow-up challenge: discern why your priorities are what they are. An action that used to be for myself might still need to be a priority but because it serves someone else.)
This
is hard for me but I want to be more honest and straightforward about my
priorities. It's okay to have priorities, they just need to be the right ones for the right reasons.
