TAKE NOT MAKE
KEY SCRIPTURES:
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Luke 12:25-26 (NIV)
From the time of John the Baptizer until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful people have been seizing it. Matthew 11:12 (GW)
I heard (or read?) once that the word “busy” stands for Bound Under Satan’s Yoke - and if you look at the way most of us are pinging from one thing to another like out-of-control pinballs, I think that may be a pretty accurate acronym!
So when people tell me, “Your life is so busy!” I try to stop and take a moment to mentally review my schedule. Is it (and therefore am I!) Bound Under Satan’s Yoke? Or is my life just FULL?
Full of what *I* want it to be full of?
More importantly, is it full of the things GOD wants it to be full of?
If it’s not, then I MAY actually be BUSY, and that’s obviously NOT a good thing! Especially if I see that my life is getting “busy” and full of unnecessary things, leaving little or no time for other things. Things I DO want my life to be full of. Things HE wants my life to be full of.
Oftentimes when I share this with people they say, “You’re right, Dart… you have to MAKE time for the things that are important in life!” and while that SOUNDS right, that’s not actually how it works.
Jesus says in Luke 12:25-26, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” I’ve always found it funny that HE thinks adding time to your life is a “very little thing” - but then, He’s God! Ha!
But we’re NOT God. We can’t MAKE time.
Time is the great leveler. We ALL get the same amount of it each day. 24 hours. 1,440 minutes. 86,400 seconds. Nobody gets more by having a higher salary, or more children, or more items on their To Do list. We all get the same amount. There is no “making” more of it. No “making” time for anything… no matter how important it is.
What that means, is that you have to TAKE time for what’s important.
I don’t know about you, but TAKING anything is hard for me. It’s hard to take a compliment. It’s hard to take a break. It’s hard to take advice. Taking is just hard… and when it comes to taking something AWAY from someone or something else, it’s REALLY hard. For Mary to sit at the feet of Jesus she had to TAKE time from helping Martha prepare the meal. Even if she didn’t really WANT to help make dinner, I assume she must have had SOME guilt, and that must have been hard right there with Jesus in front of her… but, Jesus said that she chose what was better! (Luke 10:38-42)
For me it’s SUPER hard when I’m taking something from myself… even if it’s FOR myself! Like, when I am saying NO to myself about certain foods or other things I want, (like cookies, tv, youtube, social media, etc.,) in order to say YES to other things that are healthier. I may have to say no to hitting my snooze button one more time so I can say yes - and TAKE that time instead! - to spend some time in His Word. I only get so many YESes in a day, because there are only so many hours in a day!
This means I have to be really disciplined, (which is an act of will!) and that takes effort, (sometimes a LOT of effort!) and THAT means I have to be forceful with myself. I can’t be easy on myself - even though that’s my default behavior! *deep sigh*
Probably like you, my life is very (VERY!) full, so if I want my life to be full of what GOD wants it to be full of… like quiet time with Him, time spent in His Word, time for myself, for self-care, for exercise, for healing, for recovering, for change, for time with others… (and not just being BUSY!) it means that time must be forcefully taken from something else… like the snooze button, tv, youtube, social media, blah, blah, blah. You get the idea. (Matthew 11:12)
But, I’ve found a trick, (and I'll share it with you here!) that has made it a little easier for me to TAKE time, since I can’t MAKE it!
The only way I have found that works for me, is for me to actually SCHEDULE time for the things I want my life FULL of. So first, I sit down with my schedule each Monday morning and I TAKE time out of my schedule for each thing - including the time it takes to do this! I literally TAKE a half hour - which means I have 30 minutes set aside on my schedule every Monday morning called, “Weekly Plan.” During this time, I go through my week and TAKE time and schedule the things I want my life to be full of… lunch or dinner dates with loved ones, exercise time, time to write, time to read, quiet time with God and His Word. I actually TAKE time for these things by blocking it out on my schedule! WITH a reminder! (That’s critical for me, because if I don’t have a reminder in my face, it doesn’t happen!!)
This is really helpful, because then if someone tries to schedule something with me, they can either see that I’m unavailable during that time (if they can see my calendar’s availability) OR I can honestly let them know that I have a “prior commitment” at that time. If it’s something that I really can’t get out of at a particular time, (like a doctor’s appointment or something,) then I reschedule the time with God or exercise or whatever for another time that day… but I try to keep it on my calendar and FORCE myself to keep that appointment! Needless to say, I am FAR from perfect at this, and things don’t ALWAYS happen exactly as I plan, (sometimes days just blow up!) but knowing what the next right thing to do is makes getting back on track much easier!
Second, I TAKE 15 minutes each morning, (blocked out on my calendar called “Daily Plan”) where I go through my To Do list (or lists!) and figure out what I need to focus on for THAT day. I can then TAKE time on my calendar for projects or other important tasks I need to accomplish, (which really helps keep me stay focused on what is truly important each day!) so I’m NOT pinging around from one thing to another like a pinball, just being BUSY instead of FULL-filled!
Abba, we can’t MAKE time like You can… we can’t MAKE time for the things we want our lives to be full of, so please help us to be forceful and TAKE the time for these things each day.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
SCRIPTURES
Luke 12:25-26 ~ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? (NIV)
Matthew 11:12 ~ From the time of John the Baptizer until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful people have been seizing it. (GW)
Luke 10:38-42 ~ 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 few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (NIV)