How to Beat the BUSY Life

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon poetically described the various seasons of life.  There is a time for this, and a time for that.  Life unfolds naturally…sometimes triumphantly, sometimes tragically; but always in divine order.  Our birth, life, and death all exist within the parameters of time, or as Solomon put it, the seasons of life.  Quite literally, life is a collection of seasons.  Though the fade from one to the other is gradual, it is constant and ever-moving.  It cannot be stopped.

In the diligent and fervent effort to slow the process of time, we ironically seem to speed it up.  Time is a mystery; the more you gain of it … the more it gains of you.  We wrestle and grope with time in clumsy fashion, always the loser.  In the name of advancement, progress, and success we fill our lives with meetings, appointments, agendas, entertainment, responsibilities, and deadlines.  The result?  More stress, anxiety, fear, disappointment, frustration, and aggravation…oh, and less time.  We are busy, busy people, on busy, busy streets, with busy, busy calendars, living busy, busy lives.  The seasons are constantly changing, but the steady barrage of activities give us little time for reflection.  So how do we slow down long enough to notice the changing of the leaves?  How do we battle the busy life?

B. Balance Your Life with Order

When life is out of order, it is out of balance, and thus filled with non-essentials.  This always creates chaos and busyness.  For example, when my children fail to put their shoes in the closet (balance and order), they spend extra time trying to find them (busy).  When I give little attention to my tires and they become flat (balance and order), I spend extra time and energy on the side of the road (busy).  I realize these are simple examples, but they speak to a more complex issue.  When we fail to live ordered lives we facilitate emotional, financial, physical, and even spiritual pandemonium.

U. Understand Your Own Mortality

View life in context of eternity.  Most of the busy activities that fill our calendar would seem trivial on our deathbed.  God gives us time so that we can prepare for the next world; that is why we are to store treasure in heaven, look upon things upon, and set our affection on the eternal.  There are two major days in our lives, the day of birth and the day of death.  Live each day in appreciation of the first, and anticipation of the last.

S. Simplify Things

Saying “no” is only a sin if directed toward God.  As a matter of fact, not saying “no” just might become a sin if it leads to a busy, jam-packed, indifferent life.  Learn to cut some things out of your schedule.  Misplaced priorities will always lead to misplaced pursuits.  The reason why we stay so busy is because we put a host of secondary things in the wrong position.  Anything that jeopardizes your relationship with God, family, or faith should be evaluated and sometimes excluded.

Y. Yield Each Day to the Will of God

Begin every day with a search for God’s perfect will for that day.  Learn from yesterday, and look for tomorrow, but live in today.  And as you live, begin each day in the pursuit of God’s unfolding will.  Ask Him for wisdom; the kind of wisdom that equips you with spiritual insight, physical strength, emotional endurance, and mental clarity.  Learn to live each day as though it is the only day to be examined at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

If we must be busy, let us pant after the water brooks, and find our rest in the solace and sovereignty of God, the One Who gave us time.