I was driving to a conference one Sunday afternoon on crowded I-26 near Asheville , NC
I got to thinking about the worker at the Carl Sandburg house. Probably sitting in the historic house alone, doing a crossword or Sudoku puzzle, and hoping that the brown sign on I-26 would entice some Sunday driver who wasn’t in a hurry to get somewhere to stop and visit the famous writer’s home.
I see the brown signs all of the time but I’ve never stopped for one. Too busy. On a schedule. Don’t have time.
We all struggle with the pace of life. An old English proverb says, “Idleness is the devil’s workshop.” This may be a true statement, but I think the opposite is also true. “Busyness is the devil’s workshop.” If both of these statements are true, how do we get where we ought to be – out of the devil’s workshop and into God’s workshop? There’s a line to be drawn somewhere between laziness and busyness. Somehow we have to find out how to stay out of the devil’s workshop and get into God’s workshop.
We are always conscious of time. I don’t wear a watch anymore because my wife told me that I had a terrible habit of looking at it in the middle of a conversation. She was right. It was a rude habit. Imagine standing in front of your pastor pouring your heart out about a problem or issue in your life while he constantly glances down at his watch. What does that say to people? What does that say about me? Jerk.
We allow our time, or lack of it, to be a point of pride. It boosts our ego to appear busy. It’s an expectation and status symbol. It makes us feel important to say that we don’t have time. We are afraid that if we don’t appear busy that we will appear lazy. This is especially true for ministers and church staff. If a church member were to ask me on a Friday afternoon how my week has been, do you think I’m going to tell him that it was slow and I didn’t do much? No. I’m going to tell him that I’ve been busier than a one-legged river dancer. It’s called job security. Think about it. I might be a jerk but I’m not a fool.
If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.
As Christ-followers, we are to be progressing as individuals but it is necessary for us to know the difference between progress and pressure. A Christ-follower should always be progressing but rarely in a mad rush. God never intended for us to be oppressed, stressed, and depressed about our busy lives. He never intended for time to dictate our every move. Jesus moved through life deliberately but was never in a hurry. Crowds thronged around him. The sick wanted to be healed. His followers wanted to be taught. When people came to him for help he gave them the impression that no one else was more important than them. The secret to Jesus’ effectiveness was that he knew that God ordered his footsteps and he saw every appointment or interruption as a divine appointment. “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives” (Psalm 37:23, NLT).
Society tells us (even our pulpits) that if you’re not busy and living up to your full potential you’re wasting your life. If you’re not getting all you can out of life, you’re not a productive cog in society. Is that really true? Jesus didn’t say, “If you love me, you will fulfill your potential. If you love me, you will fill every hour of your day with activity.” He said, “If you love me, you’ll obey me.” He didn’t say, “I have come so that you can be busy.” He said, “I have come so that you can have life.”
Our problem with busyness and time management is not a tips or techniques problem. It’s not that we need to know more shortcuts on how to save time. There are plenty of good books out there with time saving techniques. Our problem is a spiritual problem. Plato said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” If you feel like you’re being squeezed in the table vise of the devil’s workshop, maybe you need to stop and examine your life.
If you constantly crowd your life with a full calendar and consume yourself with busyness it leads to fatigue. When you are tired, you become irritable. Irritability produces indifference and apathy. Indifference and apathy leads to purposeless living. It goes like this:
The Pathway to a Purposeless Life
Crowded life = I’m busy.
Busyness = I’m tired.
Fatigue = I’m grumpy.
Apathy = I don’t care.
Purposelessness = I hate my life.
If you’re not stopping to enjoy life every now and then, you’re passing by too many brown signs. You need to ask yourself some questions like, “What is my purpose in life?” “Why am I here?” “What do I excel in?” “Where can I make the greatest contribution?” Let the Bible help you answer some of these questions. May I suggest that you start with two passages from the gospel of Matthew (22:36-40 and 28:18-20)?
You need to know where you’re going. When you know your purpose, you can make better sense of how to use your time.
After the first round of questions, ask some more:
If I could do something knowing that I couldn’t fail, what would it be?
At the end of my life, I’d love to know that I did this:
What conversations energize me?
What would I like to do most for others?
What issues or causes do I feel strongly about?
What am I passionate about?
Your interests and passions are usually directly related to your purpose. Think about your life, how you want to live it, and in what direction you want to go. “Be very careful, then, how you live…Not as unwise but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15).
This is an exercise that I have performed many times in the past. It is a reminder of how I can fulfill God’s purpose for my life and how I should spend my time. When you examine what God requires of you and when you determine the things you value most, you will discover that life is about relationships. It’s about your relationship with God and others. That’s what Jesus said in Matthew 22:36-40.
Life shouldn’t be lived in such frenzy. It should be lived at a comfortable pace that makes time for love, joy, contentment, growth, and even brown signs. What good is it to live life without love? What good is it to live life without making an impact on people? Busyness destroys relationships.
Years ago, I read Charles E. Hummel’s short but powerful book titled The Tyranny of the Urgent. It is a gentle reminder not to let the urgent take the place of the important in your life. The urgent things are those things that scream for our attention each day but have little or no significance when you consider the big picture of life. The important things are the essential things of life that patiently and quietly wait for us day after day while we put out the fires of the urgent.
For example, when you’ve decided to stay late at the office to figure out why your computer crashed while your family is at home waiting for you at the dinner table, you’ve given up the important for the urgent. When you’ve let the guys talk you into watching the game with them instead of following up with plans you made with your kids, you’ve given in to the urgent. When you’ve decided to skip your exercise routine to watch a classic rerun of “Friends,” you’ve given way to the urgent.
The urgent things are not necessarily unimportant. They just aren’t as important. They tend to clutter up our life to the point where the important is pushed out to make room for the urgent. Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.
The Bible tells us that there are at least three things we should do each day. First, we should celebrate each day. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm118:24). We should not worry about tomorrow. Jesus said, “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). (Note that Jesus did not say, “Don’t plan for tomorrow. He said don’t worry about it.) The Bible also tells us to make the Scriptures a part of each day. “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Joshua 1:8).
You can listen to all of the motivational talks. You can read all of the Chicken Soup books. You can attend every self-help seminar. You can watch Oprah every day. You can watch all of the self-help videos. But nothing will make a greater impact on your life than a daily dose of the Bible. Its words lead to prosperity and success.
One of my favorite stories reminds me to enjoy each day and not get caught up in the tyranny of the urgent. An American corporate executive was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village during a much needed vacation when a little boat with one fisherman docked with a slim catch. The American asked him, “Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”
The Mexican replied, “This is all I need to support my family for a few days.”
“But what do you do with the rest of your time?” the American inquired.
“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I dine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a very full life.”
The American scoffed at the Mexican. “Listen. I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You could leave this little village and move to Mexico City or even New York City
“But how long will this take?” the fisherman asked.
“About 20 to 25 years,” responded the expert.
“But what then?”
The American laughed. “That is the best part…when the time is right you would sell your company stock and become rich.”
“Rich,” the Mexican dreamed aloud. “Then what?”
The businessman said, “Then you could retire, move to a small coastal village, sleep late, fish a little, play with your grandkids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings, and play the guitar with your friends.”
Something tells me that the Mexican fisherman stops at times for brown signs. I should too.
