Overcoming Busyness By Lisa Burkhardt Worley
I’m guilty.
When someone asks me how I’m doing, I often say, “I’m really busy.”
But is that good?
Sometimes we can get too busy and that results in less than perfect results.
In my hurriedness over the past few weeks, I’ve lost a golf club, broken a bottle of nice perfume, and unbeknownst to me, dropped my cell phone between the seats in the back of the car and was late to an appointment because of it. Yesterday, on a work day in Dallas, I left my computer at home and had to travel back to my house forty minutes to get it. Round trip, that is an hour-and-a-half mistake.
What do you do when the busyness is out of control?
How do you put out the flames when you’re running on fire?
As a child in school I remember learning an easy strategy if I ever actually caught on fire. Maybe you will recall this simple instruction: “Stop, Drop and Roll.” I think the same directive applies when we are running on fire, so busy that we can’t do anything right.
Stop: Stop all activity; put the “to do” list away and take a Sabbatical. I wrote this blog three days ago because I’m currently on a break from work with two other discerning and praying Christian sisters in Florida.
The beach is my favorite place of retreat and when my schedule overtakes me, it’s where I long to go. There’s something about the waves crashing against the shoreline and sea gulls chirping that relax me—it’s a natural sedative.
Drop: Drop to your knees and ask the Lord to show you what to release from your schedule. Refuel and spend time with him. When Martha was scurrying around while her sister Mary was sitting at Jesus’s feet, Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Psalm 46:10 says. “Cease striving and know that I am God.” Over these four days in Destin, my friends and I will spend much time doing what is “better,” sitting at Jesus’s feet in prayer because we understand the importance of lifting up every aspect of our lives to the Lord.
Roll: After you’ve ceased all busyness, and have a handle on what to keep and what to let go, then roll. Move forward with a new plan of action. The plan should include plenty of time in God’s presence, and adequate margin so you have the time to accomplish your tasks with excellence. You may also choose to delegate some of your “to do” list that has a hold on you. I am an early morning person, so before my friends are awake here at the beach, I will be seeking God’s direction for my life. Psalm 27: 8 says, “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, LORD, I will seek.” God wants to be our organizer and daily planner. He’s a God of detail and he would love to map out our lives, if we’ll surrender the schedule to Him.
Lord, please forgive me for making busyness an idol in my life. I ask that you show me how to have balance and help me to discern what to release and what to keep during this season of my life. AMEN.