Who shrunk my calendar?

A recent Canadian poll reported that 90% of the respondents felt overwhelmed by the demands of their roll. Expectations, obligations and responsibilities created a bulging list of to-do’s that overran their calendars and stressed the fabric of their wellbeing.

In his analysis of the hurried and harried, author Greg McKeown argues that their lives are like over-stuffed closets. More and more gets added, but nothing every gets purged.

A chief reason we are so busy is that we live under the spell that we can do it all. The casualty of trying to do more and more is that the meaningful and important become marginalized by the immediate. In a nutshell:

Doing without discerning can be disastrous.

The Apostle Paul, is concerned about 1C believers who likewise had become bewitched by a false notion. Those believers were enticed to do the Mosaic law as the means by which they must become complete in their faith.

Paul makes it clear to them that such an approach is foolish. He reminds them that they began their journey of faith by believing in Jesus and they must continue that journey not by self-led doing but by the means of Spirit-led living (Gal 3:1-6 NIV).

How can we shift from reflexively just trying to do more?

Practice ‘seam prayers’. Our days have natural transitions built right into them. They occur when we move from one place to another, one task to another, one group of people to another. Use the seams of your day to prompt you to silently prayer that in the next chunk of your day the Spirit of God would guide, correct and enable you.

Your turn

What causes you to be too busy? What has God shown you that helps you re-establish a healthy balance?