Tag: priorities

Refresh: Back to the Basics

Published on by Kim

You know the feeling when your plate gets too full? Does the new year look this way? “Just one little thing” adds up. Legitimate priorities need to be handled. Projects are pending.

So what do we do? Panic? Shut down? Keep going until we collapse? No. No. No. It’s time to go back to basics.

  1. Take a deep breath. Panic never makes anything better.
  2. Speak truth to yourself. Now is not the time to forget what is true. We have been called by God to this day. He provides what we need to live as we are called to live today — bringing glory to God in all that we do. He is with His people as we live the life He has given us (Heb. 13:5-6).
  3. Get a handle on your responsibilities. Now look at what you have to do. Knowing ‘what’ is half the battle. An important part of that “knowing” is having it recorded. Trying to remember all the little things are driving you crazy. Pull out your to-do list and capture what is buzzing around in your head.
  4. Now map out a plan. Look at the priorities and put them in order. Cut out what doesn’t need to be included. Look at your available time and block out sections to tackle what you need. Knowing ‘when’ to do  ‘what’ is another huge part of the battle.
  5. Do it. This is the final key. Work the plan. Follow the steps you have laid out. Get it done.

We can do this, in the grace God provides. Stay calm and confident and get it done.

Consider: “Crazy Busy”

Published on by Kim1 Comment

Kevin DeYoung has written a “(mercifully) short” book on busyness and its effect on our hearts. It is full of questions to consider about our theology of time and self and how that theology shows up in our schedules. Here are two excerpts for you to enjoy, which will perhaps whet your appetite:

“As Christians, especially, we ought to know better because we understand deep down that the problem is not just with our schedules or with the world’s complexity—something is not right with us. The chaos is at least partly self-created. The disorder of daily life is a product of disorder in the innermost places of the heart. Things are not the way they ought to be because we are not the way we are supposed to be.”

“Busyness, as I’ve been diagnosing it, is as much a mind-set and a heart sickness as it is a failure in time management. It’s possible to live your days in a flurry of hard work, serving, and bearing burdens, and to do so with the right character and a right dependence on God so that it doesn’t feel crazy busy. By the same token, it’s possible to feel amazingly stressed and frenzied while actually accomplishing very little. The antidote to busyness of soul is not sloth and indifference. The antidote is rest, rhythm, death to pride, acceptance of our own finitude, and trust in the providence of God.”

These books are set here as possibilities for you to explore. Posts and links are not blanket endorsements or paid publicity.