Shopping for Time

So, thanks to Ellen for suggesting the topics of preparedness and relationships. I started writing, and realized I have a TON to say!  It's gotten me rather bogged down and I was waiting to post something until I was finished with what I was working on.  Sorry.  It's probably going to be a two parter, and I'll just have to keep plodding along on it.

In the mean time, I wanted to share with you a book that I just finished called Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and Not Be Overwhelmed, by Carolyn Mahaney (wife of pastor/author C. J. Mahaney) and her three daughters. This book is significant in that, these days I rarely find time to finish a book.  I have quite a number of  wonderful and edifying books started, even half finished, but it's sadly unusual for me to actually finish a book at this stage of my life. But this book is different.  At just 94 pages, I decided I could push on through.  And has it ever been encouraging and instructive!

I realize that with a subtitle like How to Do It All and Not Be Overwhelmed, it might sound like a self-help book.  Rest assured, it's not so simple. With only six chapters and five main points, two of which being specifically focused on rising early and spending time in prayer, the guiding theme of the book is based on Ephesians 5:15-16- "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."

While I often fail miserable at it, a personal goal of mine is to put relationships before tasks. Relationships is the secondary focus of this little rich little book.  Specifically, the authors (you never know just which one is writing when) suggest tools to help prioritize your relationships, God, husband, children, family, friendships, etc. and how to work at being intentional within each of those relationships so that you sow and reap the most from each.

While these relationships are to be our priority, it is easy to find the laundry creeping in the way of playing with my kids or calling a friend. Who wants to make dinner when you can plan Candy Land (again)? On their surface the mundane tasks of organizing the fridge, cleaning the bathroom, or vacuuming the living room for the second or third time in one day are not really tasks that inspire me to grow in godliness.  However, as is not unusual, a quote from C. S. Lewis was quite encouraging to me. "The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's "own" or "real" life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life-- the life God is sending one day by day: what one calls one's "real life" is a phantom of one's own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it's hard to remember it all the time."  Ahhh. So true.  Should I not be thankful that I have a refrigerator full of (mostly) healthy food, indoor plumbing (unlike much of the developing world), and the blessing of children who just happen to crumb up the carpet?

I would be remiss if I did not mention perhaps the most indulgent and downright exciting suggestion the authors make: taking a personal retreat.  Ahhhh.  How glorious does that sound? A Personal. Retreat. I truly love to be with people, but my goodness, do I enjoy being alone! I fairly often have times when my husband and children are all out of the house, but this is the time when I run around trying to clean, or organize, or do any number of other busy works that scream for my attention. The Mahaneys actually suggest leaving your home for a 24 hour retreat to a hotel, or at least a few hours to a coffee shop (a few hourse just isn't long enough in my opinion) where you can first focus on prayer and reading, and then on prioritizing and organizing your life. I love it. The example they present is that of Jesus who often went away to pray and to be refreshed before he went back into ministry. It's not a matter of escaping life, it's a matter of being recharged and prepared for your life and ministry to your home and the people in it.  Oh how joyous! My husband has graciously agreed that this should happen, and I cannot wait till it can be arranged!

I will close with some of the Mahaney ladies' closing words. "In light of this wonderous gospel, the following exhortation from Philippians 1:27 is truly amazing. Here we are told to 'let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.' Isn't it mind-boggling... to consider that we who were once condemned sinners can now, by the grace of God, live a life worthy of the gospel? We don't evaluate our priorities, consider relationships, and simplify tasks merely to avoid being overwhelmed. We do it so that our manner of life would be worthy of the gospel. We do it because, by God's amazing grace, we can live a life worthy of the gospel."

Be encouraged today, as you seek to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called!