Thursday, March 4, 2010

Good Busy or Bad Busy?

Hi all,

Are you too busy? How often does it happen that you have to say no to a friend or an event because you're just too busy and don't have the time? The Bible tells us not to the lazy and slothful but when does activity become too much?

I think the story of Martha and Mary is a good portrayal of this (if you know of any other verses on busyness, let me know). Luke 10:48-42 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 only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'"

Martha was busy, full of activity, working hard- she didn't have time to visit. Yet Mary was relaxed, leaving the work for a time to be with Jesus. Jesus only was able to visit them now and then; Mary knew to take full advantage of the short time they had together. Sometimes I wonder if we rush about doing so much stuff and miss what is really important. What about when a friend calls us up and asks to go out that same day? How often do we just have to tell the person that we can't, we're too busy! And even more importantly, how often do we tell that to God? I'll go to church next week when I don't have so many social events on the weekend or I'll make personal time happen with Jesus tomorrow or the next day, today I just have to finish my project.

STOP! Breathe. Take a moment to be still. The world will not end if you don't complete every task or fulfull every obligation. I know it seems sometimes that the things we have to do are so vitally important that nothing can get in the way of getting them done but it's really not true (I mean, sure sometimes there are exceptions to this but overall...) because God should have the control. He's got the whole world in his hands remember? He will help you to complete every task when it needs to get done. He knows best. After all, we need to lean on him for strength and not on our own abilities. God knows what is essential to doing better than you do!

1 Timothy 6:7 says, "After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it." And the Bible tells us more than once not to "... not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" (Mathew 6:25). Okay, so based on this, we need to relax and not stress about our basic needs because God knows what they are (so overtime at work? you have to be kidding). Neither should we continually strive after things. Our busyness shouldn't be about getting more stuff or gaining the ability to get more stuff- it all stays behind anyway.

Work is not a bad thing though. God created work by telling Adam to care for the garden and there are other verses throughout the Bible that discuss blessings because of doing work. Such as Colossians 3:23-24 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." So being busy because of our working lives is not a bad thing as long as we don't get consumed by it so it becomes first and foremost concern in our lives.

So where is the line between good busy and bad busy? I think it really has to do with time management. Do we still have time to be by ourselves (personal time) ? Time to journal, worship, talk to God? Time for family and friends? If an average day allows you to do all these things- I'd say it's good busy. But if you're day looks more like a hurried routine- wake up-work-sleep (eat if you remember) than that's a bad busy. Obviously there is variation between the two and everyone should know what is the right level of busyness for them (without stressing them out).

No matter what though, it's really important that we remember who we are busy for- God, and that all our worldly positions will stay behind when we die but it's our relationships with people that will last forever.

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