Tuesday, August 19, 2008

You can only do so much

Over the years I've realized one very important truth and that is... I can only do so much! Everyone wants a piece of my time. Work requires a lot of my time, and so does my family. Friends require some and my ministry as well. But when all is said and done... "You can only do so much." You have to set priorities for yourself or you'll go nuts trying to keep up with this demanding schedule that can suddenly overcome you. The next thing you know, there's no time in the day for you. Everyone else has it all. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't be concerned about others, of course we should, but to neglect yourself can make you a frustrated and very tired individual. We all need some time to ourselves, we need down time to think and reflect. We need time to relax and rest some. God gave us the perfect example in the very beginning when he created this world we live in. Genesis Chapter 1 describes all the work that God did each day creating the world as we know it. The light and the heavens and the birds and the trees, everything that we see and know about our world today, God created within 6 days and we pick up in Genesis Chapter 2:1

Gen 2:1-3
(1) Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. (2) And the seventh day God ended His work which He had done. (3) Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

God rests and reflects on what He has done, and you know what... He saw that it was good! Can you say that about your life? Can you sit back and rest and say... "My life is good." If not then re-evaluate your priorities. You have to put God first. The rest and peace comes from Him. You've probably had a difficult time saying "No" to everyone around you and you've distributed all your time to others and other things. Sit back and look at your routines and commitments and scale back if you find you have no time left in the day. People will understand, and so will the Lord. My experience has been, when I'm that busy, that time restrained, God gets squeezed out as well. That's never good for us.

Remember... "You can only do so much."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great post, Steve, and a very important and difficult to learn (speaking from experience) lesson.

I've heard it said that if you don't take time to take care of yourself, you won't have anything to give to anybody else.

Gene