Sometimes, the quiet places are where things make the most
sense. Other times, God makes it painfully clear in the middle of our ongoing,
crazy-busy lives. Either way, God's will prevails, and His clarity is sure. We
just don’t always see it. Why? Because we are too enveloped in quietness or,
dare I say, confusion (the crazy-busy lifestyle). I cannot help but wonder in
the midst of my decision making if I could make wiser decisions had a more
solemn moment to spend with my Heavenly Father. Were I to quiet my soul, would
I hear His voice?
The answer seems so simple.
And yet life just keeps pushing and pulling me on, not
giving me much of a chance.
This sounds like a lot of the world, does it not?
Well, there is a really cool fact about this.
Life does not have
the reigns if you do.
You don’t have to let life push and pull you through. First
of all, you should let God lead you. Second of all, you can do that by allowing
yourself 1) Time for Him, 2) Time to think, and 3) Time to yourself.
Easier said than done, right?
Well, actually, it is pretty easy. There’s just no fancy way
to say choose, as my high school Bible teacher would say. You have to make time—and
trust me, you have time. We each have over 160 hours a week. Assuming with all
of our complaints about how little sleep we each get per night, we will say
about 48 hours of that time is for sleep. 3 hours a day for meals is more than
sufficient, taking out total of 48 used hours up to a whopping grand total of 69
used hours. You are just shy of 100 hours left. If you work or attend school,
we will assume another 40 hours or so of your time is taken away, landing you
at about 50 hours still within your week. Church and work? You probably have
about 25 hours left. If you work out 5 times a week, then you’re down to 20
hours a week. The 40 hours for school does keep in mind the time spent outside
of class on homework. However, after eating, sleeping, learning, working,
church-attending, and working out, you still have plenty of time in your day to
socialize, relax….And spend time with your Creator. Spend time getting to know
Him, allowing Him to speak to you…To bring clarity to your blurry picture, to
add perspective to the fine-tuned moments.
20 hours envelopes almost an entire day’s worth of time
(without even sleeping!). You have time. You just have to decide where it goes.
It boils down to priorities. I can honestly say I am overwhelmed with a crazy
busy lifestyle that is still unsure of what it will be crazy-busy with. Will I
work 17 hours a week or will I help lead an outreach? Will I do both on top of
being a part of dorm floor leadership and being an honor society club
secretary?? Am I out of my mind? All this on top of 17 credit hours? What
should I do and what shouldn’t I do? I have way too many options—some already
(happily) set in stone! This is where
the peace of God and the quiet moments spent in His presence come into play. We
need that. We need Him. And He needs us to listen so we can do what He created
us for…To be free. To enjoy life doing what He knows will suit us (and others)
best. So why don’t we give Him more time? It seems so… Simple!
It may be hard at first, but I can guarantee it will pay off
in the long run. So hang in there and have time with God. You will save
yourself some heartache if you allow His presence, His wisdom, His peace,
to envelope who you are.
It has brought me a great deal of peace in the midst of my
crazy-busy life full of school, work, searching for more work, making decisions
on what I can and cannot handle this year…God is good. And He wants you to know
His goodness in every situation you face.
“So let’s not get tired of doing
what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we
don’t give up.”
