Everyone seems to have the same lament these days. Life is too busy, not enough time, life is passing me by. Barbara J Scott, Acquisitions Editor for Abingdon Press and writes the blog, The Roving Editor. Her words applies no matter what your work is about. "What matters is our obedience." I want to always remember that and not become so success driven that I stray from that path."Life Happens . . . Even to an Editor"
I got up late this morning even though I planned to write my blog early. Yesterday, my husband Mike decided for the first time to mow the hill in our front yard with his ride-on mower. It flipped back on him and we spent the afternoon in the E.R. No broken bones, thank God. You’ve already heard of my adventures on the way home from ACFW.
Life happens. We plan our days to accomplish something important, but forget to set our alarms; a loved one is injured, and we rush to the hospital; a neighbor goes into early labor and asks us to take care of her small children.
Life. Minutes and hours tick away on eternity’s metronome. Scripture says our lives are but a breath. We only have so many days, so we cram them full of busyness.
We pick our kids up after school and drive them to ballet, or swimming, or soccer, and they fall asleep before their heads hit the pillow. When do children play? They carry planners with them from first grade on. Their lives are so filled with scheduled activities that they lose the ability to dream and create.
I’ve tried every time-management system available. None of them helped me plan for life’s unexpected emergencies.
Life will never follow our well-constructed plans. People are a messy, chaotic bunch of souls. We can either have panic attacks or we can roll with the punches and pray for a better day tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes, and a friend needs to cry on our shoulder.
We need to make plans for the future, but we need to live fully in the present. Our lives are in God’s hands. When we get to heaven, I don’t think He’ll be handing out gold stars for keeping all our appointments and finishing all our tasks. Instead, I think He’ll be pleased that we smiled at a child, or encouraged a friend, or bought a homeless man a McDonald’s combo meal and a large sweet tea.
Our words please Him. Our writing pleases Him. But our obedience pleases Him more. If the Lord has called you as a writer . . . write. If you don’t meet your word quota for the day because you were busy living life, I don’t think He’ll mind. Keep writing when you can."
Leave a comment sharing ways you have managed to keep balance and not get so busy that you fail to live.
1 comment:
My main way to keep balance is to just look at my daughter. I spend most of my waking hours with her. She is so lovely and such a gift that I don't want to miss a moment of her childhood. When she smiles, my whole day lights up.
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