Choosing Busyness

It's Thursday morning and though I hate to admit it, this is the first morning this week that I have spent time with the Lord. Oh I have prayed and I have glanced at my devotional book - sometimes at the end of the day - but I have not spent the quality time with the Lord that I need until this morning. I have felt it. I have felt the difference in my spirit which eventuallys flows through to my words and actions and emotions. So why did I allow this to happen? Let's see... Monday and Tuesday I overslept and had to run to scheduled events of the day. Yesterday, I woke up and notice a problem and rushed off to take care of the problem and then into the other events of the day. Last night as I realized "how busy" I have been this week, I realized that I was not a victim of busyness. I was a victim of my poor choices. Christians are famous for making themselves victims of busyness. Sometimes, we get so busy doing the Lord's work that we forget the Lord. Other times, we get busy and forget the Lord's priorities. The Lord always prioritizes the eternal over the temporal. So what is eternal? Only two things - our relationships with God and our relationships with other people. Those are the only two things that will matter for all of eternity. Yet when we get busy, those are the two things that we forsake. Now don't get me wrong... everyone today is busy. My to-do list today is long and what is on it does need to be done. However, nothing on that list is more important than the Lord or the people He puts in my path. Am I rushing from one task to the next and not noticing the hurt in someone's eyes as I rush by them? Have I filled my day so full that I have not five minutes to call, email, or text a friend who is going through a rough time and simply check on them? You know, when I was in Bible College I heard an acronym for busy: Being Under Satan's Yoke. While there is some truth to that, I think most of the time we are under the yoke we have chosen to place on ourselves. This is simply not God's way for us to live because when we choose to live this way, we end up hurting ourselves and sometimes other people. I have definitely hurt myself this week and have possibly hurt some others. I think if we allow ourselves to become too busy for God and other people, we are simply too busy. However, we are not victims of our busyness, we are victims of our choices. So this morning as I spent my time with the Lord, I've brought my to-do list before Him. I'm allowing Him to show me what His priorities are for my day. After arranging my to-do list according to what He showed me, He leaves me with this: Keep my eyes focused on Him while I do these tasks, and keep my eyes open for the people He puts in my path. His ways are always so much better than ours. :)