Quote of the Day
"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials." - Lin Yutang
I was originally going to post this on a Friday, since it seemed a particuarly apt quote for a day likely to be full of Friday cleaning, or at least full of thoughts about Friday cleaning. But it strikes me as pretty apropos for a Monday morning as well, and in fact any day in which I'm trying to accomplish anything at all.
I happen to have quite a bit of energy at the moment (the sunshine helps) and I was just saying to Shawn this morning that I have so many things I want to do "first" today. God help me in the most practical and mundane issues to do the most important things first, and not to spend the day, or the week, rushing around trying to do more than He wants me to.
I think so often of the verse in Song of Solomon where it says "...my own vineyard have I not kept." And it's been a really good "prioritizer" for me: I have responsibilities before God, and I better be sure I'm taking care of my own before I try to take care of everything else.
I see it as concentric circles: the inner circle is my personal walk with God, my own relationship with Him. The next circle is my relationship with Shawn, then my responsibilities for the boys, then our home (ie, housework), then my duties as a staff member here.
There are plenty of other things I could throw in to complicate the issue, like my responsibilities to my family (the one I grew up in I mean), or my own personal development (and sometimes I throw that one in when I'm needing space or time off), or my relationships with friends (sorry you guys, but that's usually a sadly neglected corner of the vineyard...although blogging is a good little nurturing sort of thing!). But these are the key ones that help me prioritize on a normal daily level.
When I take care of first things first, other things tend to recede into the background (or scurry right out of my vineyard back to wherever they came from), my stress level stays out of the red (well, theoretically anyway), and I feel an overall sense of satisfaction from knowing that I'm spending my time and energy on the things that matter most, working in the vineyard God has given me to care for.
And no one else can keep my vineyard for me! No one can do my Bible reading for me, no one else can spend time in prayer that will deepen and develop my walk with God, and I could go on and on, but I'm spending all my time composing this and none of my time actually doing what I'm talking about, so I guess I'll wrap this up.
As always, I'd love to get your thoughts on the issue!
I was originally going to post this on a Friday, since it seemed a particuarly apt quote for a day likely to be full of Friday cleaning, or at least full of thoughts about Friday cleaning. But it strikes me as pretty apropos for a Monday morning as well, and in fact any day in which I'm trying to accomplish anything at all.
I happen to have quite a bit of energy at the moment (the sunshine helps) and I was just saying to Shawn this morning that I have so many things I want to do "first" today. God help me in the most practical and mundane issues to do the most important things first, and not to spend the day, or the week, rushing around trying to do more than He wants me to.
I think so often of the verse in Song of Solomon where it says "...my own vineyard have I not kept." And it's been a really good "prioritizer" for me: I have responsibilities before God, and I better be sure I'm taking care of my own before I try to take care of everything else.
I see it as concentric circles: the inner circle is my personal walk with God, my own relationship with Him. The next circle is my relationship with Shawn, then my responsibilities for the boys, then our home (ie, housework), then my duties as a staff member here.
There are plenty of other things I could throw in to complicate the issue, like my responsibilities to my family (the one I grew up in I mean), or my own personal development (and sometimes I throw that one in when I'm needing space or time off), or my relationships with friends (sorry you guys, but that's usually a sadly neglected corner of the vineyard...although blogging is a good little nurturing sort of thing!). But these are the key ones that help me prioritize on a normal daily level.
When I take care of first things first, other things tend to recede into the background (or scurry right out of my vineyard back to wherever they came from), my stress level stays out of the red (well, theoretically anyway), and I feel an overall sense of satisfaction from knowing that I'm spending my time and energy on the things that matter most, working in the vineyard God has given me to care for.
And no one else can keep my vineyard for me! No one can do my Bible reading for me, no one else can spend time in prayer that will deepen and develop my walk with God, and I could go on and on, but I'm spending all my time composing this and none of my time actually doing what I'm talking about, so I guess I'll wrap this up.
As always, I'd love to get your thoughts on the issue!
posted by gretchenemma at 11:29 AM
2 Comments:
"No one can do my Bible reading for me, no one else can spend time in prayer that will deepen and develop my walk with God..."
Uncle Dave had an awesome meeting in Feb. about "The Secret Place," and about how that secret place is the place we meet with God. I just loved the idea that it is very us-specific. My secret place with God is different from anyone else's secret place with God.
And that made my devotions time more special, because I realized how unique it was - for me, but also for God. He doesn't meet in "my" secret place with anyone else. Only me!
Kind of cool, eh?
He also tied that all in with the idea of the "white stone," and how each time we meet in the secret place, it is as if we are adding just a little more ink, or a little more engraving, to that Secret Name - as if the secret name comes out of the identity that He and I have formed together in the Secret place.
So many cool thoughts!
Cool! I love it! We'll have to talk about it more sometime.
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