When my son was born, 14 years ago, I was just starting as a minister at Ecumenical Church, in Pueblo West, Colorado. Consequently, my life was very busy as I sought to get to know the members and the church, as well as visiting new attenders, and getting new programs started. I was very busy. If my son could have talked in his first year of life, he would have regularly been saying: “There you go,” because I would come home from work for dinner, and then leave again for night meetings or visits.
Lately, Tami and I have been reflecting about how busy we are. We are constantly on the go to Tyler’s baseball, Tiffany’s girl scouts, Tiffany’s choir, church, family, and on and on it goes. It is interesting to see how busy our lives get. In fact, most of society is like this as well. And Christmas only makes it busier. What are we to do about constantly being on the go?
One suggestion is to plan better. What I mean by this is that we need to set priorities; one of which should be to not get too busy. Busyness only brings stress to our lives. Now I am not suggesting that you just sit home and do nothing all the time. I am suggesting that we try and limit the kind of lifestyle where we are just running from one thing to another; especially when kids are involved. Spending time with family at home, relaxing, playing games, watching a movie, can be a good way to build a strong family bond.
Another negative that comes from our lives being busy is that we don’t make time for God. In the gospel of John, chapter 15, verses 1-5 say: “‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’” When we don’t spend time with God, we will fail to flourish and bear fruit.
Don’t let your life be such that people are always saying, ‘There you go,’ but rather live your life so that you have time for yourself, your family, and most importantly for God.
