Using Time Well

We are too busy.
We have no margin in our lives.

(Vichi81 - FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Why?

Because we think too highly of ourselves.
Because we are insecure in our identities.
Because we don't know how to choose pleasure well.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, when I talk to friends and co-workers, the comment I hear so often when I ask, "How are you?" is "Busy." One reason we are so busy because we think too highly of ourselves. Let me explain.

When I fill my life and work with many activities it is often because I want to produce more. I think, "If I can run this extra program, produce more,and build a bigger XYZ, then I'll have arrived", and I fail to realize how little I am in the world.

Consider this fact: The vast majority of us will be forgotten within the next 100 years. Humbling indeed.

Another way in which we think too highly of ourselves is that we think we can do more than we can. When I first began in ministry, I thought that I could mentor dozens of college students. It quickly became clear to me that if Christ chose to mentor 12, I might be wise to not attempt more than that. When I think I can do more than I can, I often become overwhelmed with tasks and people become projects.

This is not to say that hard work is to be shunned - it isn't. It is to challenge us with this question: Am I so busy because I think I can do more than I really can, and does that assumed 'production-capability' come from me thinking of myself more highly than I should?  Have I turned people I love, people with whom I work, into projects instead of image-bearers of the Creator?

More to come...

- tC