But, Lord I am Just Too Busy!

I started a new job in January 2015, which has been quite demanding. My day would go something like this: Wake up between 7 and 7:30 a.m., fully intending to get up at 5 a.m. to pray and seek God before work. That never happened. I would hit the snooze button a million times before I jumped out of bed aggravated that I missed my prayer time and rushed to get to work. On the way to work every morning, I talked to my best friend. I got to work at about 9 or so, and pushed full throttle through the day until about 6 or 7 p.m. I got off and then I would take care of whatever errands need to be done; maybe I’d make time for the gym. Then, once I got home it was time to work some more until 12- 1 a.m. Then, I crashed.

What’s wrong with what you just read? You guessed it. I had gone an entire day without talking to God. Why? I was just too busy. Each night I would briefly make the statement, “Lord, I am going to wake up early and talk to you tomorrow before work, before I get too busy. Then, tomorrow would come and it would be the same thing.

A couple of months passed with this behavior. I started feeling burnt out physically and emotionally. It got to the point where I was even tired of church. I didn’t want to be around church people because my frustrations were so heightened that I noticed EVERYTHING wrong with everyone else but myself. I continued to enthrall myself in work, even though I didn’t have a desire to continue to working like a maniac, and continuously complained how I needed a vacation.

One morning, as I laid in bed feeling tired, knowing I had to get up and start the work day, I thought to myself, “Chavon what are you doing with your life? This life you’re living is so mediocre. There has to be more to life than just getting up going to work every day. What are you doing?” I decided to take my dog for a walk and at the same time, talk to God about the state I was in. On the walk God began to deal with me. “Chavon, you haven’t blogged in months,” I heard him whisper to my spirit. My reply, “Lord, I’ve just been so busy.” His reply, “If you get busy for me, I will get busy for you. If I only wanted you to practice law, I wouldn’t have given you Rescued Hearts. You are supposed to birth that ministry, but you haven’t. I need you to get work. Not only that, how can you hear from me about your life if your just too busy?”

I instantly thought about his words and became convicted. Yes, for months, I made excuses why I didn’t have time to pray, blog, or journal. But, I made time for social media. I made time to call my best friend daily. I made time to go to work, and work late every night. I made time to be involved with things at church, but I found excuses for spending lengthy, meaningfully quality time with God. The time I was spending with Him, I was complaining and asking Him to answer my numerous requests. I was listing my requests, but I wasn’t being intimate with Him. I was convicted, and I was a mess. I instantly repented, and told God that I was going to make a commitment to spend time with Him daily, and to get recommitted to Rescued Hearts.

Our busy seasons of life are the most challenging. It is in those seasons where we have to fight the hardest to make time for Jesus. We have to be intentional. We have a tendency to convince ourselves and even try to convince Him that He understands we are busy. Yet, we make time to do everything else we want to do. We make time to watch our favorite reality show, to Instagram, and tweet. All the while, Jesus gets pushed to the backburner as we simply expect Him to understand that we are just too busy. Nonetheless, God is so patient with us. He sits back enduring the neglect, giving us time to realize that we need time with Him more than anything else.

Jesus shows us in scripture, the importance of escaping the busyness of life to renew our strength. In Mark 6:31, Jesus told the disciples, “Come with me by yourself to a quiet place and get some rest.” This scripture shows that you need quiet time with the Lord to refill. It’s virtually impossible to hear God’s still quiet voice over the roar of constant social media posts, text messages, emails, children, significant others, laundry, cooking, and everything else without escaping to your quiet place to spend time with Him.

One of the best examples of the consequences of busyness is found in Luke 10:38-42. It’s the story of Mary and Martha. The Bible says, “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But, Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me! ‘Martha, Martha, ‘the Lord answered, ‘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.”

I can completely identify with Martha. While Martha was preoccupied with things, Mary was at the feet of Jesus seeking Him and getting direction. I like Martha, was so consumed with working my job, and doing other things, that I forgot about the most important thing… Jesus. We must not be like Martha, so consumed with doing things for Jesus, working our jobs, taking care of our families, that we miss out on the Lord directing us.

I encourage you to start spending at least 20 minutes with God daily. Let Him pour into you. Be intentional about spending time with Him. Let the phone ring, the text messages pile up, the emails roll in, and give social media a break. Make up in your mind that you won’t be like Martha and miss out on God’s direction. Grab your journal, Bible, and spend time with Him. It will be so worth it. ♥

Cheers to a Rescued Heart,